Kate Garraway's husband Derek Draper burst into tears when he arrived home and saw his children.
Kate Garraway
The 53-year-old former lobbyist has been in hospital for more than a year battling coronavirus and then the after-effects, but he was able to return home to the pair's London property on Wednesday night (07.04.21), and he got emotional when his kids, Darcey, 15, and son Billy, 11, opened the door.
Speaking on 'Good Morning Britain' from her house today (09.04.21), Kate said: "As we pulled up I could see Darcey and Billy looking out of the window and they ran out and opened the door and he immediately burst into tears and there was a lot of hugging.
"We got him inside and he absolutely knew he was home.
"He is responding all the time, but what he's not able to do is talk and say, like you might imagine Derek might say, 'Why the hell is the place such a mess?'
"It's not like that, but he's absolutely responding and aware of where he is."
Kate got teary as she spoke about making Derek one of her casseroles, because he can "swallow a bit now", and she laid out four dinner plates for her family for the first time in more than a year.
She said: "As I was laying out the plates I realised I was laying out four, it makes me cry now, and Darcey was saying, 'Oh, we're going to put four spoons down.'
"And Billy was like, 'Have we got enough mash?' I said, 'Yes, I don't think dad's going to be eating that much,' but he suddenly remembered dad's old portions.
"We weren't all sitting around the dinner table, we just constructed a version of it.
"It just feels like the start of a huge chapter, but a really big and important one."
Kate admitted there were "a lot of discussions", which started before Christmas, with the doctors about Derek being allowed back home, and medics made it clear to her that they wouldn't have let him go home "if there were any risk to his health".
She said: "He's using more words, and there are more things he can do now.
"He's got some more movement in his hands. He can show emotion.
"But it felt as if everything had stalled, medically. And if anything, was going slightly back.
"I couldn't visit, family couldn't visit, so even some of the therapeutic things we would want to do to help him move forward couldn't happen.
"So they said, 'Let's give this a go and get him home safely.'
"It feels a little bit like the hospital has come home with him at the moment because we've got all sorts of professional people making sure everything is safe."
Kate admitted she "hasn't really slept" since Derek was able to return home, and she and the doctors are hoping him being back in their house will prompt a boost in his recovery.
She said: "It is 24-hour care. I haven't really slept, but I will ease off. I'm just very aware at the moment.
"It is a new team who are working with him and helping him to come through. It's going to take a lot of adjustment.
"On top of the care side, there is also the very specialised therapeutic intervention, which will have to come in to make sure this isn't just about getting him with us, for us, it's hoping this will prompt something in him ... some recovery.
"Because he's definitely plateaued at this level.
"We really want to see if we can move forward, get him speaking more and moving more.
"It's going to be very slow, I'm afraid, and a bit of a wait and see."
Derek has been sleeping in the pair's living room, which has been converted into a bedroom for him, and Kate has slept in the same room as her husband.
She explained: "It was a very late night, Wednesday night. I came back downstairs to sleep in the same room as Derek.
"Bill said, and Darcey agreed, 'Mum, he is home. Let's take that in.'
"I said, 'Yes, he is. That's great."
Derek will have speech and language therapy and physiotherapy at home, and the medics are hoping he will start responding when he sees his kids playing.
She said: "When he sees the children playing, will it prompt him more to say, 'What are you doing with your LEGO Bill?'
"We've got to stay positive and we've got to have hope - and he's here!"
Kate then joked: "Hopefully I haven't woken him up."
Tagged in Kate Garraway