Gyles Brandreth reveals his grandson's rare cancer diagnosis

Gyles Brandreth has revealed a GP initially dismissed his grandson's cancerous lump as a cyst or hernia.

In 2017, the broadcaster's daughter, ghostwriter Saethryd, and her husband, Army veteran Mark, were changing Kitt's nappy when they spotted a pea-sized lump near his stomach, which a GP told them was a cyst or a hernia.

But Saethryd, now 49, grew anxious and took the then-15-month-old tot to Accident and Emergency (A+E) in April that year, where further tests revealed he had rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare type of soft tissue sarcoma.

Speaking to presenter Lorraine Kelly, 66, on the latest episode of the Experience Is Everything with Saga podcast, Gyles said: "10, 11 years ago.. along comes our youngest grandchild, a boy called Kitt, and his parents discover when he's about one that he has a babyhood cancer that he was born with.

"And there's the usual anxiety at the doctors, where the first GP dismisses it.

"Fortunately, our daughter persists in anxiety and eventually does go against the rules and goes to A+E where they do take him more seriously, and the good news is that eventually he ends up at Great Ormond Street, and it is a story which, for our family, has a happy outcome.

"It was the first time I was confronted by a challenge, but the challenge was my daughter's challenge and our son-in-law's challenge.

"It wasn't our story. It was their story. We were impacted on it, but all we could do was help."

Gyles, who has been married to writer Michele since 1973, continued: "What I didn't realise was that the hospital, they like a parent to stay the night with the child.

"We're talking about a year that he was there, which is pretty stressful. But Michele often was doing the nights, which I didn't do. It tested them severely."

Kitt underwent chemotherapy and multiple blood and platelet transfusions during his treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital. He also suffered a bacterial infection that affected his heart and liver.

He was given the all-clear in November 2017 and has since remained in remission, although he continues to have yearly checks at Great Ormond Street.

Gyles, who "burst into tears" when he visited his grandson in the London children's hospital, declared that "staying positive" helped him and his family get through the heartbreaking ordeal.

The former Conservative MP said: "So how did we cope? By simply, I think, staying positive, staying there when required but out of the way when not required. And I think I hope making it about them and not about us."

Gyles added: "You had to get used to going into the hospital; he was in two hospitals, and not bursting into tears seeing all these little children with no hair and all of them so positive."

Gyles previously told how Kitt's cancer diagnosis was a "shock to the system" for the family, but they felt "reassured" when the little one was admitted to Great Ormond Street because of its "world-class reputation".