Barry treks Peru fordefibrillator project

Barry Torrens is aiming to raise £2,500 for the portable lifesaving equipment to be installed at Portrush Masonic Hall.

Should Barry reach his target a second defibrillator will be installed in a town centre business, most probably the estate agents Fletcher-Torrens.

Barry, who flew to Peru last Friday via London and Madrid, for the ten-day adventure, told the Times: “You have to take yourself outside your comfort zone every so often, especially when raising money for charitable causes.

“Every teb minutes that pass without defibrillation when someone has heart failure it means 10% less likely to survive. These portable defibrillators, invented by a Northern Irishman, should be situated every 100 metres or so in town centres, so I’m only too delighted to get involved and help fundraise for one in Portrush.”

Machu Picchu is an Incan citadel set high in the Andes Mountains in Peru, above the Urubamba River valley. Built in the 15th century and later abandoned. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Sacred Valley which is fifty miles north west of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows.

Barry is hoping for a less dramatic time away from these shores having survived April 2015 earthquakes in Nepal that killed over 8,000 people. He was caught inside a six storey building when the second earthquake struck. He was recsued by the British Army Ghurkhas.

“I wasn’t frightened by anything that happened to me in Nepal only desperately sorry for the locals who lost everything that we left behind. Now, new day, new challenge.”