News | CTO climbs Mont Blanc in aid of rare charity

Our Chief Technology Officer, Richard Jarvis, swapped a day at the EMIS office for the ‘Corridor of Death’ to raise funds for a charity that supports children with a rare neuropsychiatric disorder.

Last week (June 17 – 23) he left his computer behind to climb Europe’s highest mountain, Mont Blanc, in aid of PANS PANDAS UK, which support families of children with Paediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS).

As well as risking altitude sickness and physical exhaustion, the gruelling climb also saw Richard cross the ‘Corridor of Death’, an accident black spot where climbers must ‘dodge’ falling rocks which regularly become displaced.

Richard said:

The Corridor of Death (or Grand Couloir) was very, very scary. Someone died there after being hit by a rock fall on the morning that we arrived. That really brought into sharp focus the risks we were taking by attempting to cross it - and cross if again on the way down. I had a very bad night’s sleep the night before thinking about the risks I was taking!

He added: “The whole thing was very physically demanding – harder than I expected.

“I put in a lot of training beforehand, but there were some things I couldn’t really prepare for, such as the altitude sickness and the couloir de la mort.

“The conditions were not ideal; we had heavy rain a few hours before we crossed which loosens the rocks. The thought of that combined with the effects of the altitude, it made for a difficult night’s sleep!

“When I set foot on the top the feeling of satisfaction was intense. We’d trained hard and invested a lot in getting to that point. After nearly seven hours of climbing to be able to stop for a few brief minutes and look down on the world was a feeling I will treasure.”

Richard chose the charity because it supports his 13-year-old Goddaughter, who was diagnosed with PANS after suffering from an infection as a toddler. It’s a rare syndrome which affects a child’s personality and can result in OCD, tics and behavioural issues. While it can often be treated with antibiotics, more needs to be done to raise awareness and help families who are struggling for a diagnosis.

Richard, who is dad to 12-year-old Lucas, said: “It’s a charity close to my heart because I’ve seen what good it does first hand.

“For a long time in my Goddaughter’s early life they didn’t know what the problem was and it was a real struggle, but because of the work that PANS PANDAS UK do they have been able to access a diagnosis and she can now live a fulfilled and happy life.

It’s really important that we raise money to support more research to better understand it and to enable children who are yet to be diagnosed to receive treatment faster. It’s made a huge difference to my Goddaughter’s life and hopefully the money we raise will help more children get the help they need.

He added: “It’s gone amazingly well. Not only have we raised more than £3,000, but my colleague Glen Harding heard about what I was doing and said his child was affected by PANS too and got in touch. It just goes to show the importance of sharing stories to raise awareness.”

Glen, who works as a lead engineer at EMIS and believes his nine-year-old son may have PANS, said: “When I read that Richard was supporting PANS I was really surprised because I’d only heard about it because of my son’s difficulties – it’s not a widely known condition.

“We are yet to receive an official diagnosis of PANS but the charity has been fantastic in providing useful resources and information to our family. It’s great that people are talking about it and that more is being done to fund research into such a complex and life-changing syndrome.”

To sponsor the team go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/richard-jarvis-for-pans

For more about the charity go to https://www.panspandasuk.org/