Aussie golfer opens up on daughter’s heartbreaking diagnosis
Brett Rankin boarded a flight out of Brisbane last Sunday to compete in the Asian Tour event in Chinese Taipei.
It’s a trip he says is one of the hardest of his career.
Brett Rankin with his wife and daughter. PGA Tour of Australia
The Australian pro golfer is juggling life on tour while his three‑year‑old daughter, Dakota, undergoes treatment for leukaemia.
“It’s just a massive juggling act at the moment. We’re just trying to do the best we can,” Rankin said, per the PGA Tour of Australia.
Rankin has always been able to separate golf from his personal life, but this battle is different.
“It’s before rounds and after rounds that are the hard part… when your daughter’s saying, ‘I miss you. Can you come home?’, that gets pretty hard.”
The family’s ordeal began earlier this year when Dakota became constantly fatigued, asking to be carried and coming home from daycare “absolutely wiped”.
While Rankin was away playing The National Tournament in March, his partner Nicole sought a second opinion after bouts of pneumonia and chest infections.
Then came the message that changed everything: “Hey, just a heads up. We’re going to the hospital. The doctor thinks it might be something.”
Rankin rushed home. That night, doctors confirmed Dakota had B‑cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (B‑ALL), the most common strain of childhood leukaemia.
The family is only a few months into an almost three‑year treatment plan that will strip Dakota’s immune system and test their resilience.
The first month was brutal, with daily steroids and chemotherapy triggering mood swings and exhaustion.
“She wouldn’t smile for a week. She’d just be stuck in bed and pretty miserable,” Rankin said.
But there has been a rare positive: Dakota responded so well to the initial phase that she has now been placed in the low‑risk category. Her treatment will continue, but at a lower intensity.
“By the end of the year, November, December, she should be easing into that maintenance period, which basically becomes normal life,” Rankin said.
