Kate Garraway has paid tribute to all the nurses who took care of her husband Derek Draper amid his coronavirus battle.
Reflecting on the "many, very dark hours," the Good Morning Britain host shared a picture from her interview on Heart FM to mark International Nurses Day on Wednesday.
"In my book #thepowerofhope I talk about how much their spirit and skill gave me hope in many very dark hours and I know they do the same every day for millions of others. We salute you #nurses," she wrote on Instagram.
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Her husband Derek spent more than a year in hospital after contracting coronavirus in March 2020. He was placed into an induced coma as his blood oxygen levels severely dropped. The 53-year-old has since returned to the couple's home in north London.
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Earlier, during her chat with Amanda Holden and Jamie Theakston, doting wife Kate credited the NHS nurses for saving his life. "I often think, don't you, we all go 'that doctor who saved my life', 'thank you to that incredible surgeon.' But as I've seen over the last 14 months, it's actually the care of nurses that - especially when you're dealing with something like COVID where there is no cure," she said.
"Not enough is yet known about how to treat the symptoms although I'm sure medical profession will get there – it's their incredible care that has saved Derek's life. It's that simple."
Kate shared this touching post to NHS nurses
Of their dedication to their work, Kate continued: "With Derek for a lot of his time, he was in a Prolonged Disorder of Consciousness so effectively a coma, and every day the nurses would go in, of course we couldn't, his family couldn't, and they would go in and I just thought it was miraculous because they would say, 'good morning Derek how are you this morning'.
"And if you think about having to exude love out of yourself to someone who is unconscious, not responsive, not able to say thank you, not able to acknowledge it, they did it continuously, relentlessly and that must have been what was a big part of trying to haul Derek from this frightening place he was in."
© Photo: RexKate's husband Derek returned home from hospital last month
Becoming emotional, the mum-of-two added: "It was a turning point for me watching them talk to Derek, because finding joy right now for everybody, which is why today's so important, is so hard, and I was struggling to hang onto hope, whilst also thinking ‘am I just being unrealistic?'
"But when I watched them pouring love and skill into Derek, every single day, and even though they had no idea whether it was going to work, they had no idea whether they could win the war against COVID and they also are putting their own lives at risk by exposing themselves to COVID, I just thought that's just the definition of hope, it makes me want to cry now."
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