Ryan Searle has made it to the World Darts Championship semi-finals for the first time in his career, and the 38-year-old’s achievement is all the more remarkable given the rare condition affecting his eyesight.
Searle is taking on the world No 1 and reigning champion Luke Littler tonight, after cruising through the rounds without dropping a set at Alexandra Palace before his 5-2 win over Jonny Clayton in the quarter-finals.
He lives with Autosomal Dominant Optic Atrophy, a condition which impedes a person’s vision by causing the optic nerve to become progressively thinner. ADOA eventually causes irreversible sight loss in both eyes, and there is currently no cure.
“It was only in the last 18 months that I realised what the diagnosis was,” Searle explained this week.
“It’s been bad for as long as I can remember. There’s no cure for what I’ve got so I’m stuck with it. I wear contact lenses now to try and take a bit of the blurriness away from my vision. But sometimes on stage I’m asking the caller what I’ve scored and it puts me in a bit of a difficult position.
“If I can inspire people that maybe can’t see as well to pick up the game, then it means a lot to me.”
Searle, a former window cleaner, has passed the genetic condition on to his children, and his daughter is registered visually impaired. The Devonian is raising money for the Cure ADOA Foundation by asking opponents to donate shirts to be raffled off for charity.
“My son doesn’t have it as bad as me, but my daughter has it really bad. When it gets to about six feet, she can see, but after that her vision gets really bad. So if I can raise a lot of awareness for that and try and find a cure for it, that means a lot to me.”
This week Littler revealed that he had eye surgery as a child to repair strabismus, a condition commonly known as cross eye, where the eyes do not align.
