Kate Garraway has made a triumphant return to Good Morning Britain after two days away where Charlotte Hawkins stepped in.
Speaking to co host Adil Ray, Kate explained that it had been her husband Derek Draper's 53rd birthday
She spoke to him via video call and celebrated with a cake, but admitted the day was "challenging" due to him still being in intensive care, but that she hoped "the love seeped through".
Kate said it was also very hard on their children, Darcey and Billy, but said they are "doing brilliantly".
Adil Ray said: "Welcome back, did you have a nice couple of days off?"
"Well I did a swap with Charlotte this week... It was Derek's birthday on Saturday as well, which was obviously a challenging one under the circumstances," she said.
"We managed to FaceTime him and sing happy birthday, and we had a cake, which we had on FaceTime.
"So we tried to mark the moment."
"That must have been difficult for the kids," said Adil.
"It's very challenging, they're doing brilliantly with it, though," Kate replied.
"We managed to do it with Derek's family as well, we managed to technically hook up and sing happy birthday and just hope that the love seeps through."
Kate also revealed Charlotte had bought her a rose bush, which she was incredibly grateful for because it's called "The rose of hope".
"It actually came to flower on Saturday," said Kate, looking emotional.
She added that she had been planting flowers throughout Derek's recovery battle, and said it felt poignant how they "marked the passage of time".
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.
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.
Kate had asked healthcare professionals about donating her blood back in April, but was told at the time that they were "months away" from being confident enough to "clean blood".
* Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV at 6am
