Kate Garraway reveals husband Derek has regained his sense of smell telling son Billy he smells of Monster Munch

KATE Garraway has revealed that her husband Derek Draper has regained his sense of smell.

The 54-year-old host said that Derek had teased their 11-year-old son Billy, joking that he smelled of Monster Munch crisps.

4

The Good Morning Britain presenter said that she was happy to enjoy some "lovely normal moments" together.

Kate told ITV's Lorraine: "It's those strange little weird normal things that happen. In fact one of the nurses texted me and said 'oh my goodness, I've just heard Derek speak'.

"I said 'oh my god, what did he say?' and she said 'Billy you smell of Monster Munch'.

"It's not quite the profound thing...but she said that he did smell of Monster Munch.

4

"He had just had two packets of Monster Munch which is very pungent and he'd come over and he was hugging him."

The ITV host said that this indicated that Derek had importantly regained his sense of smell.

Kate added: "That tells us first of all, he seemed to smile as he was saying it. She said he was laughing, laughing may be strong.

"But he seemed to be laughing and Billy was laughing as well which is a lovely normal moment and also it shows that he can smell."

4

Kate recently said she felt like she'd "been shot" after the neurologist delivered the bleak prognosis when Derek was still in a coma fighting off Covid and the damage it had wreaked on his body.

"My husband’s mysterious failure to come round from his two-month induced coma had been baffling doctors for some weeks now," Kate wrote.

Electrical tests have shown promising signs of activity in her husband's brain - and the neurologist said a "reasonable recovery" was possible.

"This sounded promising," she writes.

"But what, I wondered, was ‘reasonable’? Derek, back home with us being the usual Derek but maybe with a bit of a limp? In a wheelchair, with some short-term memory loss? With an inhaler, or on drugs for life?"

4

Most read in News TV

SPLIT STRUGGLE

Heartbreaking moment Molly-Mae’s daughter Bambi begs for ‘daddy’ Tommy Fury

FROM THE HEART

Eamonn reveals heartbreaking health update saying it's 'really difficult'

HOUSE PROUD

Inside Strictly star Tasha Ghouri’s months-long planning battle over new home

big change

Naga Munchetty announces major career news after ten years hosting BBC Breakfast

She continued: "His reply was a phrase that still haunts me. Being able to hold a hairbrush.

"I felt as though I’d been shot. His words brought to mind images of damaged people sitting in institutions, one hand on a hairbrush, slowly brushing. Something like you might see in an old movie.

"It seemed a world away from anything I had ever associated
with my husband."

Derek currently needs 24-hour care after leaving hospital following his year-long fight back to health from coronavirus.