Holly Willoughby reduced to tears as Kate Garraway shares poignant words from Derek Draper on This Morning

Holly Willoughby was reduced to tears by Kate Garraway as she shared the poignant words Derek Draper uttered after they were given a huge surprise during a very rare outing together as he continues to battle various health issues after his body was ravaged by coronavirus.

Former Labour lobbyist Derek contracted the virus in March 2020 and was taken to hospital where he was later placed in an induced coma. The virus 'wreaked havoc' on the former Labour lobbyist's body and left him spending just over a year in hospital. He has needed round-the-clock care ever since he returned home in April 2021.

While he's made some progress since coming out of his coma, Derek, thought to be the longest-suffering Covid patient in the UK can still only say the occasional few words and is struggling with renal failure and infected wounds.

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Another of Derek's struggles comes from his lungs. He can't breathe in oxygen nor breathe out carbon dioxide efficiently, meaning his body is "slightly poisoned all the time" with Kate recently sharing how Derek has developed a "weird choking" condition.

That being said, Kate and Derek, both 56, were invited to be Sir Elton John’s guests of honour at his Farewell Yellow Brick Road concert at London’s O2 Arena in April. Derek was also at her side in June, despite being in and out of hospital, when she collected her MBE from the Prince of Wales in an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle.

During an appearance on This Morning on Thursday (September 14) as her new book, The Strength of Love, is released, Kate told hosts Holly and Josie Gibson: "I feel like I'm holding a life in my hands… and I’m just not sure