OMAHA (KMTV) — Although Dani Burkey now represents the red, white & blue, she started out fairly green in triathlons five years ago.
"My first time jumping in a lap pool, I couldn't even swim one length without having to stop to breathe," said Berke.
But after finishing first in her age division in her very first triathlon, Berke qualified for nationals and recently qualified for the World Championships in Australia as part of Team USA.
"I'm a Midwest girl & we swim in lakes here" Berke said. "And there we'll be competing in the open ocean for the swim portion. So there's definitely some elements of this race that I'm very nervous about. When you get hit in the face or kicked in the mouth and you're crawling over each other in the water, it can be very intimidating & there have been times where you have a little panic attack in the water and you have to figure out how to calm yourself down.My motto is survive the swim. So we'll see how it goes."
Berke also balances a full-time job along with mothering two young daughters, the youngest,6-year-old Audrey, who's had her own battles.
"My daughter was diagnosed with a rare brain disorder called lissencephaly, which gives her also cerebral palsy," said Berke. "When we first got the diagnosis, it was scary as a small baby. She wasn't able to crawl. She wasn't able to hold her own bottle when she was needing to start feeding herself, she couldn't because she really didn't have a lot of mobility in one of her hands."
Now Dani heads down under, motivated to make her daughters and herself proud.
"God made me her mother for a reason," Berke said. "Because if there's anything that that child ever wants to do in life,I am going to be the mother that is going to be able to show her like you can do anything."
