I’m so overwhelmed with gratitude for not only the opportunity to compete in Ironman Kona, a dream truly come true, but also to share my personal story with everyone here. Here is my story…the story of how I got to Kona.
It started with a Coach, a P.E Teacher an Individual that believed in me and made me believe in myself when everything wasn't what it should have been!
When I was younger my dream was to go to the Olympics! My 7/8th grade Coach had put that in my head by telling me you have potential; you could go to the Olympics just keep working hard, believe in yourself. Mr Burge would train with me after practice, he would give me things to do on the weekend like running hills, run the track things to get me faster. He even purchased a pair of running shoes for me (we didn't have money) Mr. Berge believed in me and made me believe in myself. This was also my Grandma Ruth’s dream.
I did track and field, swimming/diving and was involved in as many sports as possible. I always involved my siblings as much as I could, too. It was so important to me that we did things together. We would run around the track, run the hills in our area, and bike anywhere we could. When I would go to school events, I would pretend I was in the Olympics. I knew I would never have the opportunity to compete as an actual Olympic athlete, so I got lost in my own daydreams at our local events. As a child our family moved all over. My parents struggled to keep food on our table and the only clothes we had to wear to school were those that my Aunt Sandy made for us or that my Aunt Ramona gave us. As I grew older so many changes happened quickly in our home. Our parents’ marriage was falling apart, and our life began to look so different. I have always been blessed to have my amazing siblings, however. My siblings and I have always been so close and for that I will forever be thankful.
While still in high school, I had my first son Tyler. Becoming a mom makes such deep changes in one’s life, but to become a mom in the middle of high school completely alters everything: your hopes and your dreams change. They have to be set off to the side. My sports, the thing that had meant so much to me growing up, my outlet I used to work through all of the changes that happened growing up now had to be put to the side. My life forever changed. I became a mom, I continued to take on the responsibility of taking care of my siblings. I worked to earn as much income as possible, and I continued to go to school. I knew I needed my education. My dream of the Olympics, however, was forever out of the picture. I had so many other responsibilities that had become more important to me.
So where did the word “Sunshine,” become such a huge impact in my life? How did I dedicate so much of my life to this word? In 2000, I became a trainer and gained a career as a fitness instructor. I took almost every certification I could, attended seminars, and retreats to learn everything possible to assist my clients and to gain more knowledge and experience. I had so many incredible instructors that helped me. I worked at 4 different gyms at that time. I taught the early morning classes and always started with “GOOD morning, Sunshines” to everyone! It was so early in the morning and it always brought an extra smile to someone’s tired, weary face. It brought me so much joy so I kept doing it! Just one small word can make such a HUGE IMPACT on someone’s day and that, to me, is priceless. So over the years I have continued to call everyone “Sunshine,” which is a good and a bad thing. Sometimes, you can’t always remember their first name because you always called them “Sunshine" (a little secret I never told).
In 2003 I started working on swim instruction. I started teaching athletes how to swim competitively. I spent hours in the pool teaching athletes, but so often I would forget about myself. I still remember it to this day. I just finished teaching a cycling class and one of the students asked me to join the swimmer’s class on Tuesdays/Thursdays at one of our local high schools, Logan High. At the time, it was only $1.00 to get in. I decided to go. It was so funny, I thought “Wowzah, I can teach athletes to swim, but I can’t swim 2700 yards without feeling like I’m drowning.” That soon changed. I knew that I had to make more time for myself. I began to swim with my athletes and saw my endurance expand. I started swimming at 2700 yards and shortly thereafter expanded to 3700 yards. At the time I was doing only sprint and olympic triathlons.
It wasn’t long after those sprint and olympic triathlons that I bumped into a powerful scene as I was browsing the channels for something to watch on TV. In 2004, I was awestruck when I saw 2 women crawling across the finish line in Kona. All I could think was, “I have to do this race, what is it?” I started to research it and found out it was the Kona World Championships. I learned that you had to qualify to get in so I looked up how to sign up to qualify. Ironman Wisconsin was the closest to me so I signed up for the 2005 Ironman Wisconsin! I trained and trained. I had so much fun during my training, however, something started to feel off. I started putting on weight, but I couldn’t figure out what was going on. My eating habits were the same and my training was only intensifying. One day, however, while teaching classes I started choking on a gummy bear. That was when I knew something was wrong. I wasn’t ready to back down just yet. I was still going to compete and finish IMWI and then I would go in to the doctor after I was done and get checked out.
My first Ironman time was completed in 13 hours. I thought, “OMG, I have a ton of work to do to get in the top 3 or so.” So the morning after I signed up for the 2006 IMWI and then I made plans to find out what the heck was going on and why I couldn’t swallow.
I had a few bumps in the road to my final Kona IM qualification. When I finally got into my doctor and went through all of the testing, I was handed some pretty mind-blowing information. The reason that I wasn’t able to swallow and why I was gaining weight through my intense period of training was because I had Thyroid cancer. I was about to face a different type of race, but this wasn’t a race that I was unfamiliar with. You see, I was already a onetime cancer beating champion previous to this story. I had already beaten Cervical cancer back in 1997. I was more determined than ever to show Thyroid cancer the door. I kept up with my training as much as I could. Ironman truly helped me to battle and it helped me to stay focused both mentally and physically. I was so blessed that I was training other athletes for the IMWI as well, so it made the time go by much faster.
This time around, however, I knew it wasn’t going to be about finishing the IM with a qualifying time. I was going to be just to finish the IM 6 months after my very last cancer treatment. I am happy to say that I completed that IM and when I completed it, I was cancer free. Even more incredible is that I continue to be cancer free to this day.
Over the years I have completed 13 Ironmans. I have dedicated each of the 13 IMs to a special person in my life. I have come so incredibly close to being in the top 10 of my age group and have even missed the roll down because I left. Ironman WI 2022 was a crazy, brutal, and mentally challenging IM for me! I knew so many athletes that DNF’d on that IM. I woke up the next morning and went to the rolldown with my little sunshine, my daughter. I explained what was going on as we sat and listened to the incredible stories. We listened to an athlete achieving the 210.9 which was so inspiring, yet heartbreaking. It was heartbreaking because I missed it. My daughter and I left and all I could think was, “OMG, I was so close again and didn’t make it.” I always try to be so positive and look for the bright spots, but sometimes, just sometimes I have to say it’s been frustrating. Sometimes you feel like, “Ok, this is the last one.” I have even told that to my husband. “This is the last one,” many, many times. In the back of my mind, however, I knew it was never going to be my last one. MY DREAM race was still waiting for me…My KONA Dream! My Olympics! My Race! So, I felt all of my feels and then I did what I do…I went home, and I signed up for 2023 Ironman WI. A few weeks later I thought, “I’m going to sign up for 210.9 so I did. Let’s add a warmup to the full right?
Through everything that has happened, through the trials and tribulations. The peaks and the valleys. The bumps and the jumps have been worth it all. It all accumulated to that one moment on that one day. The day that I received THE EMAIL. I received the email on July 23, 2023, at 7:40pm. The email that told me of my life dream. I, Danniela Neher, qualified for Kona 2023. I couldn’t believe it. I sat there in disbelief for a moment. I looked at my husband in shock, speechless, which if you know me you know is unheard of. When the words finally rushed back to my mouth I uttered, “NO way, No way!! This can’t be true.” I read the email to him. Then I read it over and over and over. He congratulated me and I quickly looked at him and said, “We’re going to Kona baby!” Fun fact: when my husband and I got married he had asked me if I ever would want to go to Kona for our honeymoon. I very quickly said NO. I shared with him that if we ever go to Kona that it will be for my Ironman. Dreams really do come true. I took a moment for myself and walked outside. I let it all out and cried. I called my two boys Tyler and Landen. My mom Vickie, stepdad Bob then all my siblings Bethanne, Mariea, Ray and Cherish. Of course, I had to call my cousin Sue and my Aunt Ramona too. We sat down and talked to Korbin and Elsie. I had to share the incredible news with all of them before I posted it online for the entire world to see. They have all shared my dreams and supported me along the way.
It has been 18 years in the making. It has taken blood, sweat, a cancer to beat, lots of tears, and a lot of other obstacles and life lessons learned to get me to Kona, but I am coming for you!!!! I’m so incredibly excited. I still can’t believe it! I still can’t believe that I read those words in the email. I read those words that told me that I would be racing in my dream race. My dream is about to come true. I truly am so blessed, grateful, and determined to finish it for ME!
Believe in yourself as others believe in you! Thank you Mr.Berge....
Never give up on your dreams/goals regardless of how long it takes YOU!
Note: Mr. Berge doesn't know the IMPACT he has made on me I will find him, call him and thank you for taking the time to change a life by just taking the extra steps to believe, help and inspire!
