Lorraine Kelly pauses show to pay tribute to 'astonishing' co-star Heather Sawyer who died from breast cancer

The Lorraine star paused her show on Monday to pay tribute to Heather Sawyer, who had appeared on the show as part of the Change + Check Choir, which was created to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the ITV morning show’s breast cancer awareness campaign.

Ms Sawyer had been diagnosed with stage four terminal breast cancer. Taking pause, Lorraine told viewers: "I'm very sorry to have to share some sad news this morning.

“One of our amazing singers, Heather Sawyer, has died from secondary breast cancer. Heather was only 50 years old, an astonishing woman. She was such a huge part of the choir, so passionate about everything. Amazing."

Lorraine was joined by the show’s resident medical expert, Dr Hillary, who added: "Wonderful lady. She sang at the Palladium with the choir, to celebrate the Change + Check campaign. What she would want right now is for us to celebrate her life but also remind women to check themselves, do the self-examination, if anything has changed go and see your GP and get it checked out as soon as possible.”

Ms Sawyer death was confirmed by her husband on Instagram on October 5. He said: "Shortly before 1am this morning 5th October Heather lost her fight to cancer and took her last breaths and passed away peacefully. We know just how many people have followed Heather's journey and how many lives she has touched from the sheer volume of messages, voice notes, the flood of the #hevupsocials hashtag…

"We as a family want to firstly thank each and every one of you beautiful people who have visited, sent well wishes and thought of Heather during this time. It has not gone unnoticed and we will be forever grateful to each and every one of you as you all made her know just how loved she was in her final days."