Darts star Luke Littler paused his preparations for an upcoming Netflix competition to surprise a 12-year-old superfan named Evan, who previously beat cancer.
The 19-year-old player will face 20 amateur contestants competing for £501,000 on Friday. SPORTbible organized the meeting between Littler and Evan ahead of the Beat Luke Littler event.
Evan, who is recovering from illness, sent his idol a video message stating, “Hi Luke, it is Evan. You help me through cancer and you inspired me to play darts. I am your biggest fan and hopefully we get a chance to play with each other once. Bye.”
Littler traveled to meet the youngster and offered him tickets for the Premier League Darts tournament in Aberdeen. Evan turned around after missing a bullseye and expressed shock upon seeing the world number one, shaking his hand and saying, “My favourite darts player.”
The reigning world champion stepped up to the oche to play against the fan. Littler, who recently exited the European Championship in the quarter-finals on Sunday, also signed Evan's shirt and a set of darts.
Evan was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in April 2020 after doctors initially suspected Covid. He followed Littler's career while undergoing hospital treatment.
Evan's mother, Kelly, explained, “He said that obviously Luke's dream is to win. I said, 'he never gives up and you shouldn't give up on your fight either, to battle cancer, because that kind of got him through that'.”
She added that Evan suffered severe side effects, was confined to a wheelchair, and is only recently walking without pain.
