SEARLE REVEALS EYE CONDITION SPARKED FEARS OF DEADLY CRASH

RYAN SEARLE opened up on the terrifying moment his poor eyesight left him fearing he could crash his car driving home. 

‘Heavymetal’ suffers from Dominant Optic Atrophy which causes which causes him blurred vision and has left his daughter visually impaired.

World No. 20 Searle is determined to raise awareness and funds for research to help find a cure for everyone affected.

Devon thrower Searle says his vision problems became impossible to ignore after one frightening night out. 

He told the Tops and Tales podcast: “My dad has really poor vision, and I think that’s where the dominant optic atrophy was passed down from my dad. 
 
“My daughter has it really bad, which is a shame. 
 
“I played one or two seasons on the PDC without any contact lenses or any visual aid.  

“Then I was driving one evening and we were coming back from a Jimmy Carr gig that we went to watch.  

“I was driving home that night and I couldn’t see a thing in the dark.   

“If there was no white lines in the middle of the road or near the hedge, I literally couldn’t see a thing. I thought I’ve got two young kids now you can’t go on.  

“I wouldn’t forgive myself if I was to crash driving my kids around in the dark. 

“There is no cure for it at the moment. I’m working with a charity from Holland that do something from that.  

“So, I’m going to be wearing a patch on my sleeve with their charity on it, just to raise awareness and some money towards the charity and help to maybe find a cure for it.

“But I think because it’s such a delicate thing, I don’t think you’re really ever going to find a cure.” 

The 37-year-old admits contact lenses only partly help. 

He added: “So, I booked up to go to the optician straight away after that and they couldn’t figure out why they couldn’t improve my vision very much. 
 
“You just can’t improve the vision very well.  When I practice and drive and wear contacts when I play on stage and at the pro tour and everything, it just takes away a bit of the blurriness.  

“So, it doesn’t really improve my vision so much. I actually don’t know how I used to play without it. Now it’s honestly the worst.”

Former World Matchplay quarter-finalist Searle is still chasing his first TV crown after holding a Tour Card for the past nine years. 

He came closest in 2021, losing in the Players Championship Finals to Peter Wright. 

Searle reckons the jump from a dark backstage to blinding lights at the oche has hindered his performance across the major tournaments. 

He explained: “I’ve played hundreds of times on stage but for whatever reason, sometimes when I get on stage, it just doesn’t happen.

“I don’t like to use my eyesight as an excuse but you’re in the practice room, the boards are all nice and bright.  

“You go backstage and you’re walking to the walk-on part and it’s pitch black and it’s really dark.

“You can’t see a thing and I feel my eyes go from the practice room to backstage where it’s really dark and then you get on stage where it’s really bright and I feel like my eyes just don’t adjust very well to that sometimes. I don’t really know how I can combat that in the future.

“I don’t know if there’s even something that I can, whether I can ask them to take me down a little bit later, but I know they’re always pretty on it.  

“They like you down there pretty early to make sure you’re not late for the walk-on. I just feel like my eyes don’t adjust very well it’s very strange.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.