Machu Picchu trek for children’s charity

Story posted on November 24, 2022

TWO partners of Melksham Dental Practice have completed a trek at Machu Picchu in Peru, raising over £8,000 for Julia’s House, the local children’s hospice. Chetan Agrawal and Bansari Lalan undertook the challenge for Julia’s House after seeing the ‘amazing’ care given by the charity.

Bansari said, “Chetan and I have seen how amazing the nurses at Julia’s House are when they helped our friend’s daughter. This was the motivation behind undertaking our trek and also we were celebrating our 40th birthdays and we wanted to give back to the community.

“We were a group of 20 trekkers and it was a five-day trek across the Machu Picchu and Abra Salkantay area, where we hiked up to 4,600m.

“It was physically and emotionally tough, but we were with a fabulous group of trekkers and amazing guides to support us throughout. Machu Picchu was simply breathtaking!”

The pair undertook fundraising for the trek. Bansari said, “We sold handmade printed greetings cards and made Indian takeaways. We would like to thank all our patients and friends who helped us fundraise over £8,000 and, as a group, we have fundraised over £60,000!”

Julia’s House is a local children’s hospice, looking after the most seriously ill children across Wiltshire and Dorset. The children need 24-hour care for their complex and often rare medical conditions, putting a huge amount of pressure on their families; the children’s conditions are often incurable and many are not expected to live beyond early adulthood.