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Darts champ inspired to aim high

Beau Anderson is weeks away from the biggest challenge of his darts career but beating the world's best seems easy compared with the battles of his younger son.

Mr Anderson, 31, the reigning Oceanic darts champion, has earned a wildcard entry into the lucrative Perth Darts Masters at Challenge Stadium in August.

The father of four will play alongside his British-based brother Kyle and 16-time world champion Phil "The Power" Taylor at WA's first World Series of Darts event.

As the famous chant of "180" fills the stadium, Mr Anderson's inspiration "Lil Beau" will be waiting at home in Seville Grove.

The indomitable three-year-old has spent more nights in hospital than most people will in a lifetime. His parents made the difficult decision to amputate below the knee after Lil Beau was diagnosed with a spot on the lung and a rare tumour in his leg weeks after birth.

After almost a year of chemotherapy, Lil Beau's battle appeared to be over, until March, when tests revealed cancer in his bone marrow and a new rhabdomyosarcoma in the same leg. "It was worse, because we'd been through it all before and he'd already beaten cancer," Mr Anderson said.

"He's getting chemotherapy once a week now and we're not sure how long that will go for. We think they're going to need to do surgery."

Lil Beau's tumour is shrinking and he will have tests to confirm his bone marrow is cancer-free, but his fight is far from over.

Through it all, he has been a pillar of strength for his father and mother Melissa, 27.

Mr Anderson said his latest routine was calling himself "The Hulk", claiming to turn green when angry. "He's dropped heaps of weight and his hair's come out but he's a fighter," he said.

Every win at the Perth Darts Masters will bag Mr Anderson more prize money to spend on his wife and children Tyson, 9, Shante, 5, Lil Beau and Tahlia, 1.