Kate Garraway reveals "tough" Christmas without husband Derek Draper

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief | 2h

Kate Garraway admits that Christmas without her husband Derek Draper was "tough" but reveals that her children were able to visit him in hospital for the first time.

Good Morning Britain host Kate Garraway has opened up about how her family coped without husband Derek Draper over the Christmas period.

Draper has now been in hospital for more than nine months after contracting coronavirus last March and spent much of that time in a coma as his body fought the disease.

The 53-year-old is still in the very early stages of what looks set to be a long recovery after the virus left him with numerous serious health problems, including holes in his heart and lungs.

Returning to GMB this week, Garraway revealed that her two children had been able to visit Draper for the first time over Christmas but the imposition of a new national lockdown means that he is now back to having no visitors at all.

"It was tough, it was tough for everybody, I knew it would be tough," she said. "There was lovely moment, we did, over the period, get to see Derek and the children did for the first time, that was amazing.

"It was very heightened with emotion, because he is very changed. It was so wonderful, but it amplified how sad everything was and how different it is.

"But it was still fantastic and I am grateful to have had that opportunity and then instantly, now I am in a position where even I can't visit.

"We are into lockdown, no visits at all, which I hope doesn't continue for the whole of lockdown. Because that would be very impactful on Derek's state."

Draper, an author and former political advisor, holds the unwelcome distinction of being the longest-serving UK hospital patient as a result of COVID-19.