Wade has put ‘two years of hell’ behind him to welcome son Arthur into the world.. and land two big trophies in the build-up to world champs

JUST the mere mention of his baby son Arthur’s name makes James Wade smile.

Pride and joy doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Wade didn’t smile that often when he was battling bipolar illness and dealing with hostile crowds or social media pond life suggesting he should kill himself.

But behind the spectacles, beneath the self-doubt which once consumed him, Wade’s story always seems to come up with happy ever afters.

He fell in love with walk-on girl Sammi Marsh (right) – before runway escorts were abolished by the PDC – and married her in 2015.

Then, after the heartbreak of a miscarriage and emotional investment of IVF treatment, they welcomed little Arthur to the world two months ago.

‘The Machine’ christened his little cog in style, winning back-to-back TV titles at the European Championship and World Series finals.

Only the coldest heart would deny Wade his celebrations, not to mention the £150,000 prize money, after everything he has been through.

And only the most negligent punter would rule him out of winning the William Hill PDC world championship – even if he faces a potential secondround booby trap against Polish form horse Krzysztof Ratajski.

“For a long time I never thought I would have children because it was never the right time, right place or the right person in my life,” he said.

“You can’t just pick up the phone and order a son like a takeaway. That sounds cynical, but I think a lot more people actually think like that than they are prepared to admit.

“We went through two years of hell – or more accurately, my wife did. We’d gone through IVF, Samantha lost one and then we were lucky enough to have Arthur.

“But that was two years of stress and upset. It hits you more than you think. I would say life’s back to normal again, but I know it’s never going to be the same again.”

The Aldershot left-hander had been slipping into that bracket of nearly men – often a contender but never the winner – for major titles until he won back-toback TV crowns in eight days at the European Championship and World Series finals.

As well as being £150,000 richer it put Wade, 35, in exalted company with Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson and Raymond van Barneveld among those to have achieved the feat.

He said: “It’s a start – that’s all it is, a start. The World Championship? It would be lovely to win it and I am capable of doing it, but talk is cheap.

“When the World Championship comes round, you always get silly people saying nasty things. When I lost at Ally Pally last year, I got one message telling me to go and kill myself.

“I will win it one day and it doesn’t make me any less of a player that I’m still waiting.”