Mom's Teen Son Died Weeks Before His Next Big Adventure. She Was Determined to Spare Others That Pain (Exclusive)

For two decades, Gail Doxie has run a horse therapy ranch in Florida to help military veterans — like who her son, Miles, would have become

NEED TO KNOW

• Gail and Keith Doxie’s only son, Miles, died just weeks before his 18th birthday in 2006, shortly before he was going to join the Air Force
• In their grief, his parents decided to make a difference and started a nonprofit in Florida that turned into an equine therapy ranch for military veterans
• “I heard the words, ‘Your son isn’t coming home,’ ” Gail says. “I didn’t ever want another mother to hear that. … [Our] purpose was so that other parents wouldn’t go through pain for no good reason”

When Miles Doxie got upset or just needed a bit of respite or to be outside, he often “went to his horse,” mom Gail Doxie says.

That’s what Miles was doing on May 25, 2006. Newly graduated from high school, the 17-year-old from Fort Myers, Fla., was getting ready to leave for basic training to join the Air Force, following in the footsteps of his father and his uncle and his grandfathers before him.

Instead, Miles was killed in crash while riding in his truck with friends less than two months before his 18th birthday.

Gail, then 44, knew she “couldn’t sit in self-pity,” she says now. “You feel better about yourself when you help someone else.”

About a year after the death of their only child, Gail and her husband, Keith Doxie, founded the nonprofit Miles of Smiles Foundation and two years later opened the 20-acre Miles Ranch in North Fort Myers.

They were thinking of Miles’ beloved horse, Marshall, who he’d had since he was 13.

“We saw that the horse brought an amazing peace for him — he found great solace with the horse. He just loved it,” Gail says. “When he passed away, we still had his horse and we wanted to try and find some sort of purpose for us and the horse.”

Miles’ parents were also thinking of the military: of the service member the teen would have become and the veterans who had served overseas, like Miles might have. They wanted to help those families, too.

And so in Miles’ memory, the family’s ranch began offering veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder a quiet, peaceful place to sit and watch horses, ride them or participate in free equine-assisted psychotherapy and family counseling.

“We dedicated ourselves to saving veterans' lives and keeping their families together,” says Gail, now 64.

A Realtor, she started studying psychology, ultimately earning both a bachelor’s degree, and then a master's degree in mental health counseling.

“There were a lot of young veterans having difficulty,” Gail says. “Miles loved America and wanted to serve – and so do these young men and women, and they deserve to have a life after that too.”

As of 2023, the most recent year with data, about 6,400 veterans died by suicide, though that number has been slowly decreasing in recent years, according to the federal government.

Since their son died two decades ago, the Doxies have wanted to help: They started their nonprofit in his name on what would have been his 19th birthday: July 1, 2007. Keith, a middle school music teacher, 63, serves as the president. Gail is one of the mental health counselors working with veterans.

“I heard the words, ‘Your son isn’t coming home,’ ” Gail says. “I didn't ever want another mother to hear that. … [Our] purpose was so that other parents wouldn't go through pain for no good reason.”

She believes their work has helped prevent at least 20 suicides.

Studies of equine therapy more broadly have found that it can help reduce depression symptoms and problems from post-traumatic issues like anxiety.

In her therapy on the ranch, Gail uses the horses as a metaphor. “For example, I had a huge Marine who was a very nice guy, but he got into trouble because he pulled his AR-15 on a plumber in the house,” she recalls. The Marine believed, for some reason, that the plumber was a danger.

Working with him later, Gail asked the Marine to scare the horse — and see what the animal did. 

“Horses run together in a herd. They don't run separately, and they only run a little way and then they'll stand and they'll take a look at what scared them in the first place,” she says.

She suggested that the next time the Marine felt afraid or in danger, he should ask his wife to take a break, walk outside with him and “see if the plumber was really a threat or not.”

“In war, what they're taught to do is to act immediately. They've got to act right then or somebody might die. In civilian life, that doesn't work very well,” Gail says.

Over the years, she has worked with about 45 veterans, she says. Some come for therapy a few hours a week for several years. The Doxie family’s nonprofit offers more than 700 hours of free therapy each year.

Gail continues to work as a Realtor, too, to help fund the nonprofit. The National Association of Realtors recognized her work, in 2014 as an honoree for their "Good Neighbor" award.

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“We need more help for our veterans,” Gail says. “Life's really, really short, no matter what. It's important for us to give back.”

Though Miles’ horse, Marshall, recently died, the ranch now has five horses. Gail thinks her son would have loved the property.

“He would've been in heaven at the ranch,” she says. “We think of him every time we’re there.” 

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