Cameron Menzies Feared He Was Having a Heart Attack on a Plane
Cameron Menzies has revealed a frightening health scare that happened away from the dartboard, admitting he genuinely feared he was having a heart attack during a flight to Switzerland last year.
The revelation comes at a remarkable moment in the 37-year-old Scot’s career. Just days after another health scare at the World Matchplay had raised concerns, Menzies has now responded in the best possible sporting fashion — by producing a brilliant run of form and lifting another ProTour title.
The story is particularly striking because Menzies is not simply looking back at an isolated incident. He has openly admitted that the scare forced him to take a harder look at his lifestyle, while another medical episode on the World Matchplay stage in July reinforced the importance of those changes.
The Plane Journey That Changed His Thinking
Speaking after winning Players Championship 29 in Den Bosch, Menzies explained just how frightening the earlier incident had been.
“Even before [the incident] happened, as you can see I’ve lost a bit of weight. Last year I was heading to Switzerland and I genuinely thought I was having a heart attack on the plane,” Menzies said.
That sentence says plenty about how seriously he took the experience.
Menzies explained that heart problems run in his family, so he underwent scans after the incident. He was advised to lose weight, giving him another reason to reconsider how he was looking after himself during a demanding darts schedule.
For a professional darts player, the lifestyle can be very different from what fans might imagine. Long journeys, irregular schedules, tournament days and the traditional culture surrounding darts can all make maintaining a consistent routine difficult.
Menzies now appears determined to change that.
World Matchplay Scare Added Another Warning
The concern became even more real in July when Menzies suddenly became unwell during his second-round World Matchplay match against Ross Smith.
He had beaten Luke Humphries in the previous round and was leading Smith 2-1 when he became dizzy and unsteady on his feet. Smith and officials helped him away from the stage, and the match was eventually abandoned.
The PDC later confirmed that Menzies had experienced high blood pressure, which caused him to feel dizzy and subsequently faint. He was assessed by medical staff and deemed well enough to return to his accommodation.
That episode understandably created a completely different perspective around his tournament.
Menzies later underwent further medical checks. He explained that doctors believed dehydration had contributed to the problem and that panic had caused his blood pressure to rise.
“They believe it was dehydration. And it caused my blood pressure to go high because I was panicking. I’ve never had that before,” he said.
It is an important distinction. Menzies has not said that he suffered a heart attack, and the tests following the World Matchplay incident did not reveal a serious heart problem. The frightening part was how the symptoms felt to him at the time.
The Changes Menzies Is Making
What stands out now is that Menzies is not treating the scares as something to simply forget.
He has been losing weight and has started paying more attention to hydration, particularly during long tournament days. He now returns to his room and drinks water and electrolytes as part of his routine.
His diet is changing too.
Menzies revealed that he had eaten porridge before his Players Championship campaign rather than reaching for the sort of fast food he might previously have chosen.
That might sound like a small adjustment, but in a sport where tournaments can involve hours of travel and competition, small habits can become significant over time.
And perhaps the most interesting part is that Menzies recognizes the wider change happening within professional darts.
“You see a lot of players running, walking, and taking better care of themselves now. All the young lads are coming through. They’ve grown up with clubs and youth systems, while we grew up in clubs and pubs. They’re coming after us, so we have to look after ourselves better too,” he said.
That is an unusually honest observation about how the modern game is changing.
Then Came a Huge Statement on the Oche
If anyone wondered whether Menzies could put the difficult months behind him, his performance at Players Championship 29 provided a pretty compelling answer.
He won seven matches in Den Bosch, defeating Gian van Veen 8-4 in the final to claim his second ProTour title of 2026 and the fourth PDC ranking title of his career.
The manner of the victory was impressive.
Menzies raced into a 5-0 lead against Van Veen before the Dutchman fought back with three consecutive legs. Instead of allowing the comeback to completely change the match, Menzies recovered and won three of the next four legs to close out the 8-4 victory.
It was also another significant milestone. This is the first year of Menzies’ career in which he has won two ProTour titles.
His route to the trophy included victories over Nick Kenny, Jim Long, Benjamin Pratnemer, Wessel Nijman, Jeffrey de Graaf and Kevin Doets before the final against Van Veen.
Menzies Has Plenty More to Play For
There is now a fascinating storyline developing around Menzies as the 2026 season moves toward its biggest events.
He has already endured the frustration of injury, considered whether his career should continue earlier in the year and experienced a frightening health episode on the World Matchplay stage. Yet he is finishing this stretch of the season playing some of his best darts.
Menzies himself put it perfectly after his latest victory.
“I’ve put more effort in this year than I ever have because I nearly lost it all and I’m grateful to be in this position.”
That makes his latest title feel like more than another trophy.
There is still plenty of work ahead, and Menzies clearly understands that his health has to come with the darts. He has said he wants to finish the year strongly and has his sights on the World Championship, with the possibility of the Grand Slam also in his thoughts.
For fans, that may be the most encouraging part of this entire story.
Menzies has experienced some genuinely frightening moments, but he is responding by changing his approach rather than ignoring the warning signs. And if the darts he produced in Den Bosch are anything to go by, the Scot still has plenty left to give.
After everything Cameron Menzies has been through this year, can he turn this new focus on his health into an even stronger finish to 2026?