Lorraine Kelly on Kate Garraway's 'strength' amid husband Derek Draper's health battle

Lorraine Kelly has heaped praise on Good Morning Britain star Kate Garraway for her 'strength' as her husband continues with his health battle.

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Over the past few months, Kate has been left worried as her husband Derek Draper remains in hospital. The 52-year-old was admitted to hospital after contracting coronavirus in March and was put into a coma by doctors.

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In a new interview with Good Housekeeping, her ITV colleague Lorraine confessed Kate has been in thoughts a lot during the pandemic. "My friend and colleague Kate Garraway has been so strong," she shared. "She pops into my head an awful lot. Her situation is so hard on her and her kids."

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Although Derek is now free of COVID-19, the virus has caused significant damage to his body. Doctors have informed Kate that he could persist in his current state for an unknown period of time Earlier this month, the mum-of-two made a sensational return to the show in a bid to find some "normality" in her day-to-day routine after doctors told her not to put her "life on hold".

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Lorraine Kelly heaped praise on Kate's strength

Lorraine's comments come shortly after the GMB host opened up about visiting her partner in hospital, describing the visit as "tough". Speaking to her co-host Ben Shephard on Tuesday, Kate explained: "I did go and see Derek yesterday, it was quite a tough visit yesterday. He's had a tough couple of weeks and it's just frustrating."

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Although Derek is still very ill, she added that a doctor had reassured her about his recovery. She said: "What the doctor said was, 'Sometimes Kate, a day where nothing has gone backwards or gone wrong is a stable day,' but I'm desperate for a step forward... But it's always lovely to see him and it's wonderful to have the chance to do that."