Mum's hope 'darts mad' disabled son can meet with his hero Luke Little in Belfast

The parents of a 'darts mad' toddler from Co Down, who was left disabled due to a tumour on his spine, are hoping they can arrange for their son to get a picture with his hero Luke Littler who is due to play in Belfast this week.

Two-year-old Hunter Parker was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma at just 16 weeks old before going on to spend over 100 days in intensive care undergoing treatment for the tumour on his spine.

This tumour compressed a part of his spinal cord leaving the him unable to walk or stand, but despite this he remains a happy and outgoing young boy who has developed a huge passion for darts, which is one of the only sports he may ever be able to play.

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Speaking to Belfast Live, his mum Emma said Hunter has been fascinated by darts for about a year now and discovered that "he has quite an arm on him". She said he loves nothing more than throwing darts with his family with Hunter "always scoring 180" no matter where his darts might land on the board.

Emma said all of his family members now have dart boards in their homes for Hunter to use when he visits and he refuses to go to bed when his hero Luke 'The Nuke' Littler is playing.

She is hoping that she can some how arrange for Hunter to have a chance of meeting with Luke when he is in Belfast this week for the start of the Premier League, saying that it would be such a boost for her son if he was able to get a picture with the World Champion.

Emma said: "For about a year now Hunter has been completely obssessed with darts. He loves throwing darts, watching darts and playing with others and it has got to the point where all of our family have dart boards in their homes for whenever Hunter comes for a visit.

"Anytime that the darts are on the television he is glued to the screen with Luke Littler becoming his hero. When he is playing darts he always tells people that his name is Luke The Nuke and we recently got him the Luke Littler magnetic dart board which he just adores as his darts stick much better than the ones he had been using.

"Due to Hunter's disabilities there will never be many sports that he is able to play, but darts is something that he can do and he actually has quite a good wee arm on him. Because of what he went through with his tumour he has nerve damage on one of his hands, so can only throw with one arm, but we are hoping that by putting a dart in his hand it will help encourage a bit more movement in it in the future.

"We know that this is a bit of a long shot, but Luke Littler will be playing in Belfast on Thursday night and we are hoping that we can appeal to someone to help us arrange a chance for Hunter to meet with him while he is in the city. Hunter is too young to go to the event itself but will definitely be watching and it would mean the world to him if he was able to meet his hero."

If anyone is able to help Emma arrange a dream meeting for Hunter she can be contacted at emma_j2008@hotmail.co.uk.

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