‘GIVING KO TO CANCER TOPS A 180’
LIKE every darts player on the planet, Martin ‘Wolfie’ Adams loves hearing the words “One-hundred-and-eighty!”.
But the three-time BDO World champion and three-time World Masters champion knows that never again will that compare with a doctor telling him: “We’ll see you in six months.”
That was the message he was given last month when he went for the latest check on his battle with prostate cancer.
It was music to his ears and a real boost ahead of the World Championship, which starts at Lakeside a week on Saturday.
Adams, who was diagnosed in April, said: “The last visit to the doctor’s was a real positive – my PSA level was 0.1, so that’s really good. That’s as good an all-clear as I could get at this stage.
“I was thinking the doctor is going to say, ‘We’ll see you in three months’, and he said, ‘Oh, we’ll see you in six months’.
“They must be confident the treatment has done what it should do and hopefully in six months’ time the PSA is still at the same level.
“It’s even nicer to hear than ‘180’, that’s for sure.”
It has been a tough eight months for the 60-year-old. He added: “I’ll be glad to see the back of 2016.
“It’s not as if everything associated with the cancer has gone away because the hormones that you’re on during your treatment take up to a year to get out of your system.
“So, I’m still suffering with hot sweats and the like. And when you’re going for a double and all of a sudden you get a hot sweat on...
“These things come from the inside and you can feel it building from your neck all the way up your face, you’re thinking, ‘How the hell am I going to hit this?’
“You throw it and you hope it goes in – sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.”
If it doesn’t, it doesn’t seem to matter quite as much these days – although it is still important.
Adams said: “In some ways, I’m going into this tournament with a different perspective, but the Lakeside tournament is still the one you want to do well in.
“Nine days, live TV, big crowds, it’s a fantastic tournament.
“I certainly take the darts less seriously than I did, that’s for sure. You have to ask yourself, ‘What’s more important, darts or your health?’ Health wins every time.”
Anyone with concerns about prostate cancer may contact Prostate Cancer UK’s Specialist Nurses in confidence on 0800 074 8383 or visit www.prostatecanceruk.org