Dave Clark received 6,000 messages, the vast majority from complete strangers, in four days after he quit as Sky Sports’ darts presenter.
From Phil Taylor to Freddie Flintoff, sporting greats afforded him the loudest banging-out ceremony virtual percussion could muster on social media.
But in many cases, his send-off consisted of tributes from people who struggled to live with a relentless, insidious illness until Clark gave them a voice to resist it.
When he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at 10.47am on Tuesday 25 January 2011 – he still trots out the date and moment like a rail timetable – the specialist warned Clark he would probably have just two or three years left in front of the cameras.
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