CHESAPEAKE, Va. — It’s been 25 years since the Sept. 11 attacks. A Chesapeake, woman lost her father that day and she has since turned her tragedy into Trails of Purpose.
“He would take the express train to Manhattan at four or five in the morning so he could come in time to take my sister and me to dance class,” Kayla Fallon Smith said.
Kayla Fallon Smith remembers her father, William Lawrence Fallon Jr., as a fun-loving, dedicated dad.
“He was a track runner in high school, so I remember he’d go out for seven to eight miles and I’d ride my bike alongside him — a hardworking man,” she said.
The computer technician was in the Twin Towers in New York City when terrorists flew two planes into the buildings on Sept. 11, 2001.
“When it happened, my class was only told there was a big fire in the city, but we weren’t told anything more. My best friend turned to me and asked, ‘Do you think it was your dad?’ I remember laughing and saying, ‘No, it wasn’t my dad,’” she said.
It wasn’t until days later that she and her older sister learned their dad wasn’t coming home.
“This woman from church sat us down and said, ‘There was a really bad fire at your dad’s work, and we lost your dad,’” Kayla recalled.
“That didn’t compute in my brain. If you lose something, you go find it. Unbeknownst to me, it took years for me to figure out that it was permanent,” she said.
She went on to study psychology in college. As a licensed counselor, she now helps people dealing with trauma and grief, particularly veterans and first responders.
“What I learned over the years is that a lot of the battle I fought started the same day — that many of our veterans also have the same mental battles. There was a lot of understanding even though we had different paths in life. I grew up through that trauma; they fought through that trauma,” she said.
She found equine therapy an effective way to heal emotional scars, and Trails of Purpose was born. She offers free counseling and equine therapy to veterans and first responders.
“Trauma doesn’t disappear. One day, you just carry it differently,” she said.
Helping our local heroes carry the burden of trauma is why Kayla and Trails of Purpose are Positively Hampton Roads.
https://www.trailsofpurpose.com/
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