Getting on with it: One dollar warrior takes off

Robbie Ritchie dreamed up One Dollar Warriors when recovering from surgery. Photo / Doug Sherring

This is the second of six finalists in the Bell Tea/Herald on Sunday Getting On With It search for special, ordinary people.

Nominations for people who have rolled up their sleeves and just got on with it have rolled in. Today and over the next four weeks we profile the finalists who win a year's supply of Bell Tea. The overall winner receives an iPad as well.

Robbie Ritchie
For Robbie Ritchie, the difference between life and death was $200,000. Having been handed the gift of life, he decided to pass it on to others. The Pukekohe resident was diagnosed with a rare brain condition at the age of 14. Caused by abnormal blood vessels, the condition caused him to suffer terrible seizures. He was told the seizures would worsen, that he would die young and that there was no treatment.

Twenty years later, in 2013, specialists in New Zealand still had no treatment for his condition. The prospect of leaving his beloved wife Jacqui and their two children Alex, 9, and Will, 6, was harrowing but he knew he was living on borrowed time.

But then a sort of miracle occurred. "I was watching television and saw the story of a New Zealander who had gone to Germany for brain surgery to remove a 9cm tumour," he says.

The International Neuroscience Institute in Hanover had been making leaps and bounds in the treatment of brain conditions and the story provided Ritchie with a faint glimmer of hope. He sent his scans to the hospital - they came back with the news that they were sure they could help.

But the operation would cost $200,000 and take place in just six weeks. And it would require a mammoth effort to raise the cash.

Luckily for Ritchie, Pukekohe was right behind him. "The community was incredible - there were collections in nearly every shop, school mufti days, bake sales. They raised $100,000 within six days."

Their generosity enabled him to get to Germany for the operation. "The doctors were really pleased with how it went," he says. "It was an amazing success."

While recovering in bed, Ritchie formulated an idea for passing on the sort of generosity he'd been a recipient of. It was beautiful in its simplicity.

"It came to me that if someone needed $100,000 for a lifesaving treatment, it would only take a $1 donation from 100,000 people. It was just a matter of letting people know."

One Dollar Warriors is the result of Ritchie's hospital bed idea; it was launched last month after a year of tireless work by Ritchie and Jacqui working out logistics, developing the website, and making sure the organisation was targeted to meet the needs of those who needed it most. The current cause is Shona Wilburn, a mum of two who is battling cancer - she needs $84,000 for treatment and more than $37,000 has been raised so far.

Chris Harrison, who used to work with Ritchie at Mercury Energy in Auckland before his operation, nominated him after reading about One Dollar Warriors in a New Zealand Herald article. "After what he's been through it's so incredible to see him doing this for others. He's a legend and a nice guy as well."

But Ritchie is modest about the nomination; he just hopes can keep giving back. "I just want One Dollar Warriors to maintain momentum and for others to be helped."