
Seven months ago Sandy had knee replacement surgery, she is still rehabbing and has been doing physical therapy ever since. For those that know her well, you know how long she has played through pain with her knee. She had exhausted every option and nothing seemed to really help. Last year's trip to Trinidad for the America's Cup and England to the Winmau World Master's were very difficult and this year's trip to Las Vegas was even worse. In a hot tub, at the Tuscany Suites in Las Vegas, after two days of ADO Nationals, the decision was made.
Sandy is still rehabbing and has come such a long way with more to go. She missed so many great events and wasn't able to come back as early as she would have liked. She's about 80% back to normal and looks forward to further improvement and the 2020 season.
Her first event back was the Winmau 501 National Championship in Myrtle Beach, SC. She won the first 2 installments of this event in 2017 and 2018 and played fairly well throughout the day advancing to the Semi-Finals against Paula Murphy. But Sandy offered no competition for her on this day as Paula steam rolled her way to the title winning her last 3 matches 4-0. We knew endurance would be a factor and the longer the day went on she started to run out of gas, a theme that would prove true in the tournament as well.
She teamed up with some great friends and regular partners to help her get through her first tournament back. Paula and Sandy won both Ladies Doubles events. John Liggett and Sandy earned Top 4 in Mixed Doubles Cricket but lost early in 501. They added Timmy Walker in Mixed Triples but again had an early exit. Sandy kept running into Paula in Singles and finished Top 4 in Cricket Singles and Top 16 in 501 Singles. We all want to thank the staff at the Ghost on the Coast for everything they do to promote darts.
Sandy was also asked to take a Board of Directors position with the American Disability Darts Association. She accepted their offer and will start to work with Lora Josey, Becki Baker and the staff at the ADDA.
As trying as the last few months have been, Sandy enjoyed incredible support from her amazing sponsors. They are more like family at this point and have stood behind her during this process. She wants to say a special "Thank You " to Ian, Simon, Jinta, Tsuyoshi, Joelle, Jennifer, Kelly, Jack and Holly.