Kate Garraway says celebrating birthday while husband Derek Draper is in hospital was ‘tough’

Draper has been in hospital with Covid-19 since late March
PA
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Kate Garraway has spoken about how "tough" it was to celebrate her 53rd birthday while her husband Derek Draper remains in hospital with coronavirus.

In a new Instagram post, the Good Morning Britain presenter thanked NHS staff for “keeping Derek still with us” and “battling every day to inch him toward recovery.”

Draper, 52, was hospitalised on March 30 and remains “critically ill” according to an update this week from Garraway's colleague Ben Shephard.

Sharing a photo of Draper in a student newspaper and a birthday cake she received from “strangers,” she wrote: “So yesterday was always going to be a tough one – first birthday in 16 years without Derek – so for the kids and I, his absence was very present.

“But we resolved to do what I think we are all having to do at the moment aren’t we – treasure and be grateful for the love around us – however distanced we are from it.”

She thanked family, friends and fans who have sent messages of support.

“Thank you so much for all your messages they mean such a lot,” she wrote, singling out “the friends @itv who sent chocolate for the kids & uplifting smellies for me,” “mates who dropped off food, posh teabags & milk & made me smiles at silliness” and “Derek’s friends who sent me messages of fun times they have had with him.”

Garraway also revealed that “strangers” had sent her a birthday cake covered in biscuits via her I’m A Celebrity camp mate Roman Kemp.

During Monday’s edition of Good Morning Britain, Shephard and co-presenter Susanna Reid wished Garraway a happy birthday and sent “lots of love” to the star and her family.

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