"I think I see you well," says Vincent Doggen as the reporter sits down across from him at the table. "But I actually only see forty percent of you."
He and his son Tymo have the same rare eye condition as World Championship darts player Ryan Searle“He can’t read such large letters, but he can see a dart box.”
It was an unexpected comment from the soccer coach. He asked if his parents shouldn't take their son to the optician. Tymo was a good soccer player, playing for the Gudok soccer club as an eight-year-old on a selection team, but he sometimes made strange mistakes with the ball.
"I thought, 'What are you doing to me?'" says Angelique, her mother. But the day after the conversation with the trainer, the teacher at school pointed out that Tymo wasn't seeing well. "In the parking lot, I asked him to read a car's license plate. He only saw dots."
It was a complete surprise. They'd never noticed anything wrong with their son and went to the optician. An eye test initially yielded nothing.
Puzzle pieces fell into place
Only when he had to read the increasingly smaller lettering did it become clear something else was going on. The family found themselves caught in a medical whirlwind, which came to a halt at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen.
There, a medical specialist who deals with hereditary disorders told her after a DNA test that their son has ADOA (autosomal dominant optic atrophy).
Vincent: "We'd never heard of it, but then everything fell into place. I got tested ten years ago because I failed my truck driving test due to poor vision. But they couldn't find anything wrong at the hospital either."
"After Tymo, I got tested immediately, and it turned out I had it too. I didn't find out until I was 45. It's hereditary and runs on my side of the family. An aunt has it too."
ADOA is a rare condition that doesn't directly affect the eyes, but rather the optic nerve. Approximately 300 to 500 people in the Netherlands have the disease, which causes the optic nerve fibers to shrink. This causes the nerve to thin out progressively, leading to vision loss. There is no cure. Vincent: "It's neurological."
Think of the nerve as a cable that carries information coming in through the eye to the brain, he explains. "In our brain, that cable is thinner, which means we can process less information."
Pointing to the snow outside: "That hurts my eyes. It's too much information, my optic nerves can't process it. I can't stand LED lighting either."
Known for World Championship darts player Searle
ADOA suddenly gained notoriety at the recent World Darts Championship, thanks to English darts player Ryan Searle. Despite the condition, he reached the semi-finals. Searle has spoken openly about the disease.
That his 9-year-old daughter also has it, and that he only found out about ADOA through her. Vincent: "It's actually the same way it happened to me, through Tymo."
Angelique: “When we heard about Ryan Searle, we noticed that he has exactly the same look in his eyes as Tymo, it's as if he looks right through you.” Just like the Englishman, their son loves darts.
Vincent holds his hands eight inches apart: "He can't see those giant letters, but he can see a small dart box on the board because he can focus so well. Although it does exhaust him."
During the World Darts Championship, spectators held up signs with a blurry 180 (the highest score in darts) to raise awareness for ADOA. A crowdfunding campaign was launched.
"That awareness is incredibly important," Vincent emphasizes. "Because the disease is so rare, little funding is allocated to research."
Private research projects are underway in Australia and England, which rely on donations. Through a professor at the University Medical Center Amsterdam, the Tilburg resident may participate in the Australian project.
Bright spot
It's a glimmer of hope. "They're looking into whether they can regenerate the dormant cells in the optic nerve with an injection through the eye." But for now, the future holds a great deal of uncertainty.
This is especially true for their now 16-year-old son, Tymo, his parents say. The boy receives support through Visio, an expertise center for people with visual impairments, and has a modified laptop for school.
Vincent: "But will he be able to get his driver's license soon? What will it mean for his further studies? He desperately wanted to work for the Ministry of Defence, but that's not possible because of his poor eyesight. That's heartbreaking."
This interview appeared on January 10, 2026 in the Brabants Dagblad.
Text: Hein Eikenaar
Photos: Jules van Iperen
