Former World Champion and Sky Sports pundit Mark Webster diagnosed with rare form of blood cancer as sudden absence explained

Mark Webster has long been a focal point in terms of punditry on both Sky Sports and also ITV in the past few years, but he suddenly had to take time away from the sport for medical reasons and those have now been confirmed to be a rare form of blood cancer.

Albeit the good news is for Webster is that it is one that sees 95% of cases be successful called hairy skin leukemia and that the only thing preventing him from returning to work is that his recovery isn't at full speed yet.

Webster has shown up occasionally on Sky Sports Love the Darts Podcast, but hasn't been on the Premier League in particular. But speaking to Polly James for Darts World, he said that he is still watching the game and that he should hopefully get more news on his condition in the coming weeks. "Do you know what? I’m doing okay. I didn’t expect to be off work for this long, but I’m just trusting the process at the minute. I’m doing little bits of work, but not what I’d like. I’m missing being involved on a weekly basis. Watching is still enjoyable, but it’s not the same. Hopefully I’ll be back soon, but I’ll find out more information in the next couple of weeks," he said to Darts World.

But as for the details surrounding his prognosis and what his management team MODUS said he was going through, he confirmed what the situation was. "I never really added anything to it because I assumed I’d be back a lot sooner. But on January 8th, I was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer called hairy cell leukemia. It sounds bad when you say “leukemia”, but it’s got a good prognosis. Around 95% of cases are successful and I’ll hopefully go into remission at some point.

"The recovery just hasn’t gone to plan in terms of the speed of it. My white blood cell counts still aren’t recovering properly, so my immune system isn’t great at the minute, which is why I can’t go back to work yet. It’s not the worst-case scenario, but it’s frustrating. I’m managing okay though and dealing with it alright."

The former BDO World Champion has become a real part of the furniture since he decided to step away from the game to become a full-time pundit and commentator, and said he has tried to return to work, but that it is his blood counts that are holding him back. "I can work with people, but not really in the environments I usually work in. The day-to-day side of it is frustrating because I’m used to being busy. The last event I worked was the Premier League in Newcastle on February 5th," he continued.

"I’ve got to trust the people looking after me because they’ve been really good. I don’t always get the answers I want when I go in, but I have to trust them. I got a bit carried away a few weeks ago thinking I might be able to work at Brighton, but my blood counts were too low. At the minute they’re being assisted by boosters and they are improving, but I need to come off those boosters and have the levels hold on their own before I can return to work. So it’s just a case of trusting the process."

As someone who is used to being busy, he admits it is crushing not to be able to do his job, but he has to be patient. "I have blood tests every week, and then I see my specialist roughly every four weeks. The counts have improved slightly. They took a bit of a setback a few weeks ago, but they have gone up again.

"In myself, I feel fine. I’d love to go back to work, but they don’t really like the environments I work in at the moment, so I’ve got to do as I’m told and be patient. It’s frustrating because I like being busy, but hopefully it won’t be too much longer."

But it has lent itself to him even playing a bit during his time off, albeit he is quick to rule out any notion of a comeback and said he is just doing so to pass the time. "It’s been okay. Like with anything, you have days where you think, “When am I going back?” The days can feel a bit repetitive because you’re doing the same thing all the time.

"The good weather and getting a bit of fresh air helps. But even little things, like going to the pub with your mates on the weekend, you’ve got to be sensible about. So it’s just taking a few steps back at the minute.

"Sky have been really good with me. I’ve been able to do the podcast from home, and Paddy Power have been brilliant as well with videos and bits and pieces. Winmau sent me a dartboard and some equipment too, so I’ve been playing a bit.

When asked if he was making a comeback jokingly, he firmly shut that door. "Let me elaborate: it hasn’t been going great! But it gives me something to do. I’m just used to being really busy, so this has been frustrating for me. I’ve just got to stay patient.

Webster spoke about how it all came about and how he wasn't feeling himself for sometime and when he got checked out he found out it was something more serious. "I was just really fatigued and tired all the time. Our jobs do allow for the odd afternoon nap, but I genuinely needed it, and I was still sleeping fine at night.

So I went for blood tests and checks, then I had a bone marrow biopsy and a CT scan. That’s when they found the cancerous cells in my blood. The medical team has been brilliant with me. They’ve been honest and looked after me really well. I ask loads of questions, probably some silly ones, but they always reassure me there’s no such thing as a silly question.

"I took a while before going to the doctor because I thought I was wasting their time just being tired. But if you don’t feel right, go and get checked. Chances are it won’t be anything serious, but for me it was the constant fatigue catching up with me. I’d also had what I thought were allergic reactions for a couple of years, and I’m assuming they may have been linked as well. They’ve gradually gone away during treatment, so hopefully that gets sorted too.

"I remember in Leicester I became really ill and tired going into work. I shared an Airbnb with Wayne and Stu in Wolverhampton and every time it was time to go to work, I was just exhausted. That’s when I finally acted on it, and obviously it was linked to the diagnosis."

Webster said he's not putting a date on his return to the sport but that he hopes for positive news coming. "I’m not putting a date in my mind anymore because Brighton was my target and I got carried away with myself. I started feeling better and thought my bloods would be fine, but they were still too low.

They’ve crept up slightly now, but they’re still being assisted by boosters, so they need to hold without them. I’d love to make some sort of appearance at the Premier League before the end if possible, but we’ll see what they say. I’ve got another appointment this week, so hopefully there’s another improvement in the blood counts and we can have some positive news from there.