The former Blue Peter host’s wife Gemma died in November just three days after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.

Thomas has posted on Twitter saying goodbye to 2017 and revealing his fears for the start of a new school term for their son Ethan, eight.

The Sky Sports football presenter wrote: “Never been the biggest fan of January. In a heartbeat we go from the light filled time of Christmas to the often barren feeling landscape of the New Year.

“But this year it fills me with a stomach churning dread.

“The unavoidable, inescapable return to the house we so loved, yet now breathes the loss of the woman who poured her heart and creativity into making it our dream home.

"The silence that has always felt so peaceful is now a painful, claustrophobic one as I crave that front door to open again and her smiling face to come walking back in.

“And then there’s the looming start of a new school term.

"The school gates, where the daily rhythm of family life is now so hard to be around, and the goodbye to the boy I won’t see for the next few hours.”

Myeloid leukaemia is a blood cancer that affects the bone marrow.