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'SHE'S A TROOPER'
Martin Lukeman vows to take wife to the Maldives after fight with cancer if he wins £150,000 Grand Slam of Darts jackpot
Oche ace reveals partner kicked his 'a**e' to make him carry on playing during her health fight
SHOCK hero Martin Lukeman wants to win the Grand Slam so he can take his Big C-battling wife to the Maldives.
"Smash" takes on Mickey Mansell in his first ever major semi-final in Wolverhampton on Sunday, having stunned World No 4 Rob Cross in the quarters.
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Now Lukeman, 39, insists he is not bothered with the trophy, he just wants to treat wife Mel who has been fighting the dreaded disease for two years.
The Watford ace revealed: “My wife has been through so much over the past two years and she’s still got a lot more to go through.
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“She hasn’t got cancer anymore, it’s all prevention operations now. She’s a trooper, she isn’t going to leave me.
“She had six months of chemo until last March. There were a couple of operations. I didn’t want to play darts but she kicked my a**e out.
“She also still drove me to play as well even though she was having treatment. I said I’d get the train but she insisted on driving me.
“She told me to get my head on and just play darts.
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“I’m not bothered about winning the money. All I want is a picture of my wife Mel and I on that stage with the trophy.
“The wives and girlfriends go through so much s*** with us players. It’s just crap with us losing, winning, bad moods.
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“My wife drives miles for me just so I can keep practising. I want to win it for her.
“We are going to Thailand in January but I want to treat her to the Maldives the January after so she can enjoy herself.”
Double world champ Peter Wright whitewashed 5-0 then 'slapped' by rival who worked on building site four years ago
World No 41 Lukeman had already beaten Peter Wright but delivered again to KO an out-of-sorts Cross 16-11.
He’s already promised to take his shirt off if he wins on Sunday night.
He added: “If I win I’m doing a belly dance on stage. I did it before and I thought I’d get fined by Barry Hearn but I didn’t, so I hope I don’t again!
“It will be a bonus if Luke Littler goes out. It’s not an easy draw. I’ve just got to do my job on Sunday afternoon.
"The standards are getting better. There’s not that one, two, or three players that are dominating no more, and the big boys I think are starting to realise it.
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“Littler might go for one competition, play great, and then two competitions, he's gone.
“Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, the same. They’re realising us boys we’re here to give them a game now.”
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