"She lives with death and life so close": Rowby-John Rodriguez opens up on living in constant fear due to daughter's heart problems

Rowby-John Rodriguez has had one of the best 18 months of his career after losing his Tour Card but off the oche, it hasn't been smooth sailing for the Austrian ace.

Rodriguez was riding on the crest of a wave after reaching a European Tour final but has since had to deal with his three-year-old daughter having to get rushed into emergency surgery fearing for her life.

This led to 'Little John' withdrawing from a European Tour late on and reflecting with Metro before the World Darts Championship cherish every moment despite living in constant fear.

‘That was her third operation since she was born,’ Rodriguez told Metro.co.uk. ‘This time it wasn’t planned, normally we know months before and we go to the hospital, stay there for a few weeks, it’s all planned and we can prepare.

‘In September it was a normal check-up, it went well but as soon as she came back to her room a few hours later everything went really badly. She nearly lost her life and we needed an emergency operation.

‘We weren’t prepared for it, but they said she needed it now, straight away, and we were fighting for her life.

‘That gave us another moment of us saying, right, let’s live our lives with the little one as long as she’s there because she lives with death and life so close.

‘The doctors after the operation told us that, even though it’s hard how close life and death can be to each other, just live your life with the little one and not take anything for granted.

‘Don’t take for granted that she’ll be here in 20 years, you never know, she has a heart problem, but as long as she’s living, live your lives together.’

Thankfully when it came to the three-year-old, a heart valve was found despite it being tragically from a child that passed away but Rodriguez admits the risks were always known but like her, they keep fighting.

‘This time the operation was a heart valve from another child that passed away years ago,’ said Rowby-John. ‘It was her size, we were so happy it was there.

‘There was another option for a plastic one, but from another child, it’s so sad where it comes from, but I’m also happy that my little one could get it. We were in the hospital at the right time, with the valve of her size.’

‘When she was born, the main heart doctor told us that 10 years ago we couldn’t have helped her. She doesn’t only have one heart problem, she has five different ones all together. They have different names, but I can’t tell you them in English, I can’t even say them in German.

‘We knew it already when my girlfriend was pregnant. We were given the choice of did we want to keep her or not. For us as parents we said 100 per cent we’ll keep her.

‘We have to fight as parents but the little one has to fight for herself as well. We knew that from the start and I’m really glad we decided that. She’s doing really well. She’s fighting for us like we are fighting for her.’