news

Snippet
NO PARENT would ever forget hearing their five-year-old son described by doctors as the
"luckiest of the unlucky" - and five years ago this was the traumatic news delivered to top
HSBC banker Rob Ritchie and his wife Tanya.
Their son Toby was diagnosed with a grade two tumour on his brain stem.
"It is where all the wires are that connect his brain to his spine on to his limbs, so it can't be
taken out," Ritchie tells City A.M. "But it is a low grade tumour, so it grows slowly over many
years. So we have managed it with surgery, with chemotherapy over the last five years."
The co-head of HSBC's global banking business says processing the situation took some
time. But he is determined to make the best of a heartbreaking situation, and has turned to
the City for support.
SUPPORT FROM THE CITY In the last week of this month, Ritchie will lead 38 City workers
and friends in a punishing Alpine fundraising expedition to ski tour the height of Everest -
some 8.8km - in four days.
Joining them will be property expert and TV presenter Phil Spencer. Starting in the Swiss ski
resort of Verbier, Ritchie will represent HSBC. Other teams will come from his former
employer Goldman Sachs, Barclays, JP Morgan Cazenove, insurance broker BMS and
wealth manager Smith & Williamson.
The plan is to cover 2.2km of vertical ascent each day, climbing up mountains on skis. "That
is much more than most people would want to do in a day," he says.
"You lug yourself going uphill rather than doing all the fun stuff."
9,000 CALORIES A DAY The key to covering the distance, Ritchie explains, is to avoid the
temptation to attack steeper gradients.
Instead it is a case of long and steady, with 10-12 hours spent on the slopes.
"The cumulative effect is really tiring. It's really exhausting... By the end your decisionmaking
is quite poor."
The 44-year-old's heart rate monitor calculated he was burning up to 9,000 calories a day
the last time he attempted a similar feat.
This year's challenge is similar to the inaugural event in 2015.
Then Ritchie was overwhelmed by support from Goldman Sachs, where he was the head of
an corporate debt capital markets.
Countering the perception of Goldmans as a cut-throat organisation, partners at the Wall
Street giant helped raise £3m for The Everest Centre for Research into Paediatric Low
Grade Brain Tumours.
With a further £2m coming from The Brain Tumour Charity, a centre in Heidelberg, Germany
was set up. Research is performed in conjunction with experts from Queen Mary's
University in London and Great Ormond Street hospital. .BLUNT HAMMER Ritchie says
brain tumours account for around 50 per cent of childhood cancers.
But low grade tumours - such as the one afflicting his son - only receive around two per cent
of research funding.
"Investment in research finds solutions, just look at leukaemia and breast cancer," he says.
"[It could mean] people like my son Toby won't have to deal with toxic and very
inappropriate treatments, which are a very blunt hammer on a very precise issue."
Less than a year into his job at HSBC, Ritchie is playing down his chances of hitting the
monetary heights of 2015. So far £250,000 has been raised for 2018's adventure. He hopes
to get to around £500,000.
"The City is a great hunting ground for people that are very proactive," he says. "For people
who are well paid; for really good people but who are busy and don't always have the time
to do charity work - but it doesn't mean they don't want to."
MILITARY SUPPORT Alongside support staff and four military guides, four injured members
of the armed services will also take part in the challenge.
Ritchie admits their attendance may appear tangential, but says there are parallels to be
drawn.
"My son, it is like he's been shot.