Susanna Reid calls Kate Garraway an inspiration for coping with ‘nightmare’

Susanna Reid has opened up about the “nightmare” her Good Morning Britain co-star Kate Garraway has had to live through the last few months.

Susanna, 49, hailed Kate as an “inspiration” for the way she’s coped with husband Derek Draper ‘s devastating coronavirus battle, as he remains in hospital months after his diagnosis.

After Derek was taken into hospital back in March with the deadly bug, he spent the next six months fighting for his life – and is still not out of the woods.

Kate’s husband spent three months in a coma and has been in intensive care for almost the entirety of his hospital stay, leaving Kate having to put on a brave face as she takes care of their two children.

And now Susanna has described how the horrific news has affected her and the entire GMB team, telling The Sunday Telegraph’s Stella magazine : “It has been a nightmare that has knocked all of us for six, but Kate is living through it every day.”

Susanna continued: “To watch her put on a brave face and carry on has been an utter inspiration for all of us who work on the show, and I also know she’s an inspiration to everyone who watches it.

“I don’t want to speak on her behalf, but we are a very tight team and this has been the foremost of our thoughts.”

She went on: “But it was exactly because of all the fear and anxiety that it became so important for us to cover stories of hope and inspiration.

“Like Captain Tom walking around his garden and lovely Sister Anthea Allen at my local hospital, St George’s in Tooting, who had all these local people making food and cakes for the nurses.”

Derek still remains in hospital but has awoken from his coma and is recovering from the extensive damage the virus has done.

Kate recently revealed his recovery was far slower than she had hoped, and that she was desperate for a “step forward”, but had been warned by doctors to be thankful there were no major steps back.

Derek’s recovery will be a slow process as the virus has “attacked everything”, leaving him with clots in his lungs, holes in his heart and made him diabetic, and doctors have warned Kate that Derek might never recover from the damage done to his body.

Devastating news of Derek’s condition saw Kate take an extended leave from GMB to be with her family, before defiantly returning to the show in July with her head held high.

Last week also saw Kate return to her show on Smooth Radio for the first time since Derek was diagnosed.

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