Lorraine Kelly has sent her love to Kate Garraway, who pulled out of Good Morning Britain this week after her husband Derek Draper took a serious turn for the worse in hospital.
The Scottish presenter, 62, sent her well wishes to Kate on Thursday's show, after Charlotte Hawkins stood in for the 55-year-old presenter on GMB.
Kate is said to be doing "everything she can" to help her husband, 54, who is "seriously unwell" - after being readmitted to hospital suffering complications two-and-a-half years after first contracting Covid.
Lorraine said: "I just wanted to say, we are obviously sending all of our love to our Kate. I know a lot of you have seen in the newspapers and online that Derek is back in hospital and obviously, you know, battling the effects after Covid.
"We just want to send our love to them, don't we?"
Dr Hilary Jones added: "Absolutely, yes, it's such a difficult situation. He's going to have ongoing problems but we send all our love to Kate and the family."
Lorraine said: "She's amazing. Not one to complain or say 'why me?' or any of that. She's incredible."
Derek is the worst affected living Covid patient in the UK after spending 13 months in hospital. He first contracted the virus at the beginning of 2020.
The former political advisor returned home but has been unable to fully communicate and has issues with mobility and has struggled with major health problems.
A source close to the family told the Mirror Derek is "seriously unwell", but the family know he is in the best hands.
They added Kate was putting all her energy into caring for him which meant she couldn’t host GMB as normal this week and needed to concentrate on Derek.
They said: "Derek is back in hospital in a very serious condition but the family knows he is in the best hands.
"Kate is doing everything she can for her husband. He comes first and so work will have to take a back seat this week."
While an ITV spokesperson added: "Kate is taking some time off work over the next few days, and is hoping to be back to her normal presenting duties as soon as possible."
Kate said earlier this month Derek was back in hospital after he had a "bit of a downturn".
She said at the time: "He's back in hospital I'm afraid so a bit of a downturn but fingers crossed.
"In terms of COVID, I mean when Derek got COVID there was no vaccine there was no treatment there was a lot of challenges, now we have those things so on that level yes it's not gone away."
Ever since Derek contracted Covid, Kate has valiantly tried to balance her work and family commitments - including looking after their two children Darcey, 16, and Billy, 12.
Speaking to Piers Morgan last year, she spoke frankly about how the virus had "devastated" her husband and that he has been affected "from the top of his head to the tip of his toe".
"It does feel as though I walked through a fiery furnace or fell down a rabbit hole," she told Piers on Life Stories. "The world went dark and still looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, really."
She added: "It's devastated him. From the top of his head to the tip of his toe. His digestive system, his liver, his kidneys, his heart, his nervous system. We're pretty sure that the inflammation did pass through the brain.
"He still can't communicate, he still has issues with mobility. Fundamentally, he's in a terrible state."
