Former world darts champion and Sky Sports pundit Mark Webster has revealed he has been diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer.
Webster, who won the BDO World Championship during his playing career, disclosed in an interview on Darts World’s YouTube channel that he was diagnosed in January with hairy cell leukaemia. He began chemotherapy in February and has not worked at a darts event since.
“It sounds bad when you say leukaemia, but… it’s got a good prognosis, 95 per cent of cases are successful. I will be put into some sort of remission at some point, but just the recovery at the minute is not going to plan in terms of the speed of it,” Webster said.
He explained his white blood cell counts have not recovered, leaving his immune system compromised and preventing a return to work. “My white blood counts are still not recovering, so therefore my immune system is not great at the minute, hence why I can’t go back to work,” he added.
Webster last worked at the Premier League on February 5 in Newcastle. He said he had considered working at Brighton recently but his blood counts were too low. He praised his medical team and said he has to trust their guidance even when it is frustrating. “I’ve got to trust the people that have been looking after me. They’ve been really good. I don’t always get the answers I want when I go in, but I’ve got to trust them.”
Despite the setback, Webster said he feels fine personally and is hopeful of returning to work when it is safe. “At the minute it’s a case of doing as I’m told and being patient. It’s frustrating because I like to be busy, but hopefully it won’t be too much longer.”