Reston Teen Runs Through Grief to Help Other Military Families

Reston's Brooke Nyren was only eight years old when her father, U.S. Army Sgt. Nathaniel Nyren was killed in Baghdad when a civilian vehicle struck his military vehicle on Dec. 28, 2004. 

Brooke, now a 17-year-old senior at Herndon High School, still thinks about her father every day. And each fall she runs to remember him and help other military families who have experienced loss.

Later this month, Brooke will be running her fourth Marine Corps Marathon 10K (she also ran the one-mile kids fun run four times) to raise money for the nonprofit Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). Brooke says that TAPS programs really helped her in the aftermath of her father's death, so she wants to give back.

TAPS matched her with a military mentor, whom Brooke said became like a brother to her.

"He taught me I am not alone," said Brooke. "Being a part of TAPS showed me how much I love to help others. "

Brooke said she knew how to be supportive to a friend whose father died the  year after Sgt. Nyren did, and she enjoys being a mentor to kids through TAPS.

"Every time there is a new kid, people always send them to me," she said.
 
"People don't how to react [when a parent dies]," she said. "When I got the news my father passed, it was winter break. But when we returned, the teacher had told my class, but no one talked to me. It was really hard. Even today, it never gets brought up; people don't know how to react."

"Talking to someone who has lost a parent, it is completely different," she added. "It makes you glad to know there are others like you."

Brooke says working with TAPS has inspired her career goal of becoming a music therapist for children with special needs.

Sgt. Nyren, a 1991 graduate of South Lakes High School, is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Brooke says even though her parents were divorced when she was very young, her father always put her first.

"He was true family kind of guy," she said. "When people think of military parents, they think of strict.  He wasn't like that."
 
To learn more about TAPS and see Brooke's fundraising page, click here.