KATE Garraway has shared an update on husband Derek Draper’s long battle with Covid-19.
The Good Morning Britain presenter was appearing alongside Alastair Campbell when she provided the update to ITV1 viewers during Friday morning’s instalment of the show.
Mr Draper, 53, fell ill in March 2020 after contracting coronavirus and has required a long recovery in intensive care, during which he was placed in a coma.
After more than a year in hospital, he was considered well enough to return to his North London home in April.
Ms Garraway has been very open about her husband’s illness and provided a new update on his condition.
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Ms Garraway, 53, said: "He’s very up and down. We’re certainly a long way out of the woods."
Her co-host, Alastair Campbell asked: "When Derek came home, it was just to come home not because he was necessarily well?"
Ms Garraway replied: "Not because he was better, no.
"Being home has meant we’ve seen some things improve.
"Definitely having the family around, having the children around has provided stimulation and the problem is you latch onto the positives, which is good, because you have to, but there’s absolutely no doubt that there are huge challenges ahead."
Mr Draper, a former Labour Party advisor, is yet to recover from contracting the virus responsible for a global health crisis.
Medics have warned Ms Garraway that he may never do so.
Last month, the former I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here contestant revealed that she was told that it is unlikely her husband will recover if there is no progress within two years.
She wrote: "After another long pause, he looked straight at me, then away. 'Well, Kate' – the first time he had used my name – 'I think it’s fair to say if he is still like this after two years we will know there is very little chance of him making any meaningful recovery.'
"’TWO YEARS!’ I screamed inside my head.
"Up until now I had been living by the minute, hours on the phone monitoring infection levels and statistics, trying to get a handle on where Derek was, wondering every time I went to sleep if he would still be alive in the morning."
Ms Garraway initially stepped away from her role on Good Morning Britain to tend to her husband but returned on the advice of doctors who implored her to return to some sense of normality.
GMB airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1.
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