Exclusive
VIKINGS BIGGEST BATTLE
Darts legend Andy Fordham vows to fight until he ‘can’t any more’ as he faces life-saving bowel operation
ANDY FORDHAM has been told he may need a life-saving bowel op but vowed: “I’ll keep fighting until I can’t fight any more.”
The 2004 BDO World Darts Champion is recovering at home in South-East London after being discharged from hospital last Friday following a blockage in his bowels.
6
6
6
The Viking, 58, one of the sport’s most popular characters, remains in a weak and fragile condition.
Doctors at King’s College Hospital in South London told Fordham the brutal reality if his bowel is blocked again.
His wife Jenny said: “Andy was being sick during the night. They were worried there was a blockage in his abdomen, in his bowels, and if they couldn’t move it with medication, he’d have to be transferred back to King’s College for an operation.
“If King’s had operated on him then, and opened him up to take a look, there was a high chance he wouldn’t come out the other side.
“With his liver, there would have been complications.
“The nurses and staff were amazing. But at one point they said, ‘We’ll have another scan and if it doesn’t work then we’ll have to move him. Surgery is very evasive and very dangerous.’
“And I was sitting there thinking, ‘What? Don’t do that to me’.
“The fluid is still building up in his abdomen. There’s no guarantee it won’t happen again. If it does, they may operate.”
If you drink too much, look at my story and you see it isn’t worth it. I’m not proud of it.
Andy Fordham
It all started on Friday February 21 when Fordham had 16 litres of fluid drained from his body.
This followed a painful split in his groin leaking fluid into his testicles.
Fordham spent that weekend bringing up “black” sick through the night.
He spent two days in A&E before he could be moved to a proper ward.
Over the next few weeks, he lay in a hospital bed on a drip.
It was thought the blockage between his upper bowel and lower bowel may have been related to scar tissue from a hernia operation a decade ago.
Fordham, unable to have a gastric band, ballooned to 31 STONE last summer with stress — his heaviest-ever weight — but has since shed more than EIGHT stone.
6
6
6
Alcohol, he claims, is the overriding cause of all his problems.
The ex-publican would drink up to 24 bottles of lager before a darts match or nine or ten bottles of wine.
In January 2007, Fordham collapsed and was rushed to hospital at the Lakeside world championships after suffering chest pains and breathing problems.
Since a large brandy that night, he had not touched booze for 13 years. But without the love of his close-knit family and the devotion and companionship of wife Jenny, he reckons he would not have lived this long.
Fordham said: “I’ll keep fighting until I can’t fight any more.
“If you drink too much, have a look at my story — and you see it isn’t worth it. I’m not proud of it.
Things have gone wrong and it’s all down to alcohol... I’m very lucky I have such a strong family. Without Jenny, I’d probably be dead.
Andy Fordham
Things have gone wrong and it’s all down to alcohol... I’m very lucky I have such a strong family. Without Jenny, I’d probably be dead./quote]
“It doesn’t just ruin your life, it can also ruin many other people’s lives, too.
“There have been a few things gone wrong and it’s all down to alcohol.
“I’m very lucky I have such a strong family behind me. Without Jenny, I’d probably be dead.”
It has been a nightmare 12 months for Fordham. Last summer Jenny was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time and required an op.
And their daughter Emily had open-heart surgery to fix a faulty valve.
Then he lost his mum Maureen, 75, to cancer. He said: “I must admit I got very depressed with my mum and often cried about her.
most read in sport
“The depression had just started to lift and I was enjoying life a bit more before all this happened.”
Nonetheless, there is a determination to return to the exhibition circuit and maybe even play professional darts.
He said: “I miss getting out on that stage and hearing the crowd cheer.”
Andy Fordham plays a blind darts team...blindfolded!
Topics