Family Calls for More Awareness Around Traumatic Brain Injury After Accident
Loreal "Lorie" Lloyd. Photo courtesy of The Branding Placement Agency
Tale of Tragedy, Determination and Recovery Highlights ‘Lorie’s Story’
BY ASHLEY WARD | For AC JosepH Media
ATLANTA — On May 30, 2025, Loreal “Lorie” Lloyd was simply walking home from work when her life changed forever.
Now her story of injury, recovery and support is reverberating beyond Atlanta to New Jersey.
A collision between two vehicles sent one vehicle onto the sidewalk, striking Lorie and causing catastrophic injuries that nearly took her life. What followed were months of hospitalization, multiple brain surgeries, rehabilitation, and a recovery journey that continues today.
Before the accident, Lorie was an independent young woman with dreams, goals, and plans for her future. She enjoyed spending time with family, learning new things, shopping, watching television, eating seafood, and spending time with friends. She aspired to become a nurse and build a life on her own terms.
Today, she faces challenges most people never imagine. Lorie sustained a severe traumatic brain injury requiring multiple surgeries, including the placement of a shunt.
She suffered extensive facial fractures and continues to experience balance issues, hearing loss, memory challenges, and cognitive impairments. She now wears a hearing aid due to injuries sustained during the crash and requires ongoing medical care, rehabilitation, supervision and future procedures related to her injuries.
JoAnn Moore, Lorie’s mother, said one of the hardest moments came when Lorie first looked in the mirror following the crash.
“I look so ugly,” Lorie told her. Moore said it was heartbreaking to hear, but she reminded her daughter that she was still beautiful and that every scar represented the fact that she had survived.
“I don’t remember the accident,” Lorie said. “But I do know I’m grateful to still be here.”
After being hospitalized and completing rehabilitation through September 2025, Lorie returned home requiring around-the-clock care. She remains a fall risk and needs daily supervision. Her mother, JoAnn Moore, left work to become her full-time caregiver as the family navigated mounting medical needs, disability benefit delays and limited access to long-term resources for adult TBI survivors.
More than a year later, Lorie is using her voice to raise awareness about the challenges facing traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors and the families who care for them.
Moore said the experience opened her eyes to the challenges many families face after leaving the hospital and inspired a new mission to advocate for change. Looking ahead, she hopes to one day create a residential community where traumatic brain injury survivors can continue therapy, receive support and learn daily living skills while living alongside others navigating similar challenges. She said she hopes the community will provide survivors with a place to continue healing, rather than feeling forgotten once formal rehabilitation ends.
“Life doesn’t stop after tragedy,” Moore said. “It just doesn’t.”
Others have joined the family’s effort to raise awareness and advocate for change. Helping amplify that mission isVineland’s James Cooper, founder of the Brand Placement Agency and a longtime friend of Moore, who has helped share Lorie’s story since the accident and believes it should inspire changes beyond awareness.
“There should be more laws changed because at the end of the day, her mom had to leave work to take care of her,” Cooper said.
“There should be something in place to protect the parents or caregivers, and there should be something in place to protect the actual individual with the TBI.”
Through her YouTube channel, It’s Lorie’s Story, Lorie documents her recovery and gives viewers an inside look at what it is like to live with a traumatic brain injury. Beyond sharing her daily life, she uses the platform to raise awareness and advocate for stronger support for TBI survivors and their families.
The channel’s bio describes its mission as “Lorie’s Story: A Cry for Change,” calling for stronger insurance laws, increased resources, and greater support for those navigating life after a traumatic brain injury.
Today, Lorie continues to document her recovery on social media, hoping her journey reminds other survivors that they are not alone.
“I like people to hear my story,” Lorie said. “I want everybody to understand where I’m coming from.”
She said she hopes her platform becomes a place where survivors can encourage one another throughout recovery.
“I want to come together,” she said. “I want to hear them, and I want them to talk to me about their situation.”
The family hopes It’s Lorie’s Story becomes more than a platform documenting one woman’s recovery. Through awareness, advocacy and community, they hope to spark conversations about long-term support for TBI survivors, caregiver challenges, stronger insurance protections and greater access to rehabilitation services.
For Moore, Cooper, and Lorie, telling her story isn’t the end goal; it’s the beginning of a larger mission to create a lasting change and ensure traumatic brain injury survivors are seen, heard, and supported long after they leave the hospital.
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