Kate Garraway was warned a 'good recovery' for Derek Draper would be him being able to hold a hairbrush, she has revealed today.
The Good Morning Britain star, 53, said it felt as though she'd been 'shot' when a neurologist broke the news to her.
The bleak diagnosis came when Derek was still fighting for his life in a coma after contracting coronavirus back in March.
"My husband’s mysterious failure to come round from his two-month induced coma had been baffling doctors for some weeks now," Kate penned in her new memoir, The Power of Hope, which is being serialised in the Daily Mail.
Kate explained that doctors monitored Derek's brain for signs of activity and she was told a 'reasonable' recovery might still be possible.
"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?" Kate asked.
"His reply was a phrase that still haunts me.
"‘Being able to hold a hairbrush,’ he said.
Kate said hearing the neurologist's verdict made her feel as though she'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,"added Kate.
Before contracting the virus, Derek had been a political lobbyist, devoted husband and hands on father.
Earlier this week, Kate revealed that her 15-year-old daughter Darcey had asked if she considered suicide at her lowest moment during Derek's illess.
Appearing on This Morning to promote her new book, Kate said: "I think they were at times wondering was I going to be. Was I going to be able to keep going.
"Darcey at one point actually said, 'Mummy, are you going to kill yourself?' Out of the blue."
"The thing is, that sounds horrific, obviously," said Kate.
Last month, Derek was allowed to leave hospital and return to the family to aid his recovery.
Speaking to Times Radio today, Kate said he family were embarking on a 'new chapter' and she is confident her husband will get better.
