Unity woman employs pageant title, awareness group to help fellow concussion sufferers

When vision care assistant Jayden Moffa helps patients at Willowbrook Eye Care Associates, she can empathize with them from personal experience.

Vision therapy helped the Unity resident overcome two concussions she suffered beginning in 2014, while she was a student at Greater Latrobe Senior High.

As she worked through the physically and cognitively challenging effects of her head injuries, Moffa pursued her goals of completing a college education and excelling in state pageants.

Now 23, she recently received her degree in human service and social work from Westmoreland County Community College and is completing her reign as Miss Southwestern Pennsylvania.

“I think it eases their minds a bit to know I was in their same seat,” Moffa said of patients at the Hempfield eye care practice. “I love that I’m able to make an impact. I know exactly what they’re going through. Things have come full circle.”

Moffa was cleared from the effects of her concussions about four years ago. Although it wasn’t diagnosed until 14 months after the fact, Moffa suffered her first blow to the head when a soccer ball hit her chin in a sophomore gym class.

To compound her problem, during her junior year at Greater Latrobe, she suffered another concussion, striking her head against a wall during a fall.

A concussion occurs when an impact to the head or body causes the brain to move rapidly inside the skull, resulting in an altered mental state.

For Moffa, the head injuries caused severe headaches, blurred vision and trouble communicating and focusing on her schoolwork.

“My eyes didn’t want to work together,” she said. “I had to reread what I was reading. I dealt with a lot of confusion.

“I knew what I wanted to say. It was on the tip of my tongue, but it wasn’t quite there.”

It took longer than she would have liked for Moffa to earn her college degree, as she stepped back to attending part-time. But, she credits vision therapy she received at Willowbrook for allowing her to put the effects of her concussions behind her and complete her education.

“I’m glad I was able to get through it,” she said.

While working her way back from the concussions, Moffa began participating in pageants affiliated with the Miss America organization six years ago.

“It has changed my outlook on what a successful woman is,” she said, noting she honed her leadership skills while being interviewed on topics including current events and her own goals.

Her pageant wins also provided her with scholarships that helped pay for her college education. In November 2019, she was crowned Miss Southwestern Pennsylvania, a title she retained for an extended period because the covid-19 pandemic delayed subsequent pageants. This summer, she was the fourth runner-up in the Miss Pennsylvania pageant in York.

The pandemic limited Moffa’s public appearances with her crown, but she’s used the platform her title afforded to spread awareness of the effects of concussions.

“It’s an invisible injury,” she said.

That’s why she worked with others to start the Westmoreland County Concussion Support Group in 2019, and the nonprofit Westmoreland County Concussion Awareness Group in 2020.

The support group provides a forum where those who suffered a concussion can share their experiences while hearing from guest presenters, including medical and legal professionals.

“We realized there was no outreach for patients in the community,” Moffa said. The group, which numbers about 100, meets the second Wednesday of each month. Members were gathering at Excela Square at Latrobe, but have been connecting virtually in recent months in light of the pandemic.

The awareness group, she said, is working to “improve awareness of concussions and the importance of preventing, recognizing and reporting concussions.”

The awareness group recently held a golf outing fundraiser and published a concussion resource book.

“We want to put more resources into the community for people dealing with concussions,” said Moffa. “We want to provide strength and support for individuals who have experienced an injury.”

Dr. James Masterson, founder and director of the Concussion Program at Excela Health, treated Moffa for her concussion and has provided leadership for the support and awareness groups.

He said the latter group hopes to counteract tendencies to downplay the effects of concussions — including among employers, who may want injured workers to resume their jobs before it’s safe for them to do so.

“Months and years afterward there can be symptoms, and there are things that can be done for it,” Masterson said.

He listed exercise, yoga and learning a foreign language or how to play a musical instrument among strategies that may help in a concussion patient’s recovery.

“Awareness has gotten better, but it still needs to be a lot better,” he said.

“I’m really excited to see what is going to come about through the awareness group,” said Moffa. “I want it to grow and make an impact in the community while we’re building on awareness in the state.”

Visit wccag.org to learn more about the concussion awareness group.