TRICIA LAWRENCE

Christmas Eve, 2018 was when Tricia's 26-year-old daughter, Jo, had a snowboarding accident during their family holiday in Whistler, Canada, leaving her with an incomplete C4-C5 spinal cord injury.

After several weeks of surgery, ICU and rehab at Vancouver General, Jo was able to fly to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose to continue her rehab. Her time there gave the family an insight into this new world, meeting patients and talking with parents and staff. It was also there they met Nick and Franklin and learned about NorCal SCI and the amazing resources they have to help Jo and other SCI patients. Without them, they would have been scared and clueless about Jo's future. Their reassurance and support was a lifesaver.

Upon leaving SCVMC, Jo had to give up her acting school and apartment in New York and move back into her parents' home in the Bay Area where she continues to make significant progress towards her goal of independence and her acting career.

Tricia is originally from the UK where she started the first British diaper laundry service in 1992. She was able to successfully sell the business when Kevin was relocated to the Bay Area for his work. It wasn't long before she looked for another venture to get her teeth into and with her new best friend, she started the relocation company, California Concierges. After 10 years of working with companies to help their new employees explore and move into the Bay Area, she made the decision to leave the business and accept a full-time marketing position at Adobe as their Community Manager.

After 12 years in that position, Tricia retired early 2020 to take over the caregiver role from Kevin who continues his full-time job working from home.

"I am excited to serve on the Board of NorCal SCI where I will be able to pay it forward and continue my passion of community building through this amazing organization," says Tricia.