Evan was throwing darts at his own board when the door opened and Luke Littler walked in.

The 12-year-old shook the two-time world champion’s hand and told him he was his favourite darts player, in footage shared by SPORTbible.

The visit had been arranged by SPORTbible with the children’s charity Rays of Sunshine, which grants experiences to seriously ill children across Britain. The spark was a video message Evan had recorded for Littler.

“Hi Luke, it’s Evan. You help me through cancer and you inspired me to play darts. I’m your biggest fan and hopefully we get a chance to play with each other once,” Evan said in the clip shared by SPORTbible.

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Evan was five years old when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in April 2020. Three years of treatment followed before he rang the bell to mark the end of it. His mother Kelly told SPORTbible she had used Littler as a motivator through the hardest months.

“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’,” Kelly said.

Littler threw darts with Evan, signed merchandise and handed over tickets to see him play live. The 2027 Premier League Darts visits P&J Live in Aberdeen on Thursday 13 May, part of a 17-night season that opens in Glasgow on 4 February and ends at The O2 in London on 27 May.

Littler’s own record fell days earlier

Littler is defending Premier League champion and retained his PDC world title in January, beating Gian van Veen 7-1 in the final to become the fourth player to win back-to-back PDC world championships.

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Darts’ pecking order has not stood still since. On 28 October, 16-year-old Archie Self took Littler’s record as the youngest player to land a televised nine-dart leg, checking out 180-180-141 in the opening leg of his MODUS Super Series Champions Week match against Danny Ayres on Pluto TV.

Evan’s seat is already booked. Doors at P&J Live open from 5.30pm local time on 13 May 2027.

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