BENNINGTON, Vt. (NEWS10) — A thrill seeker from Bennington honored his late father with 57 skydive jumps in one day. Ryan Scutt spent 12 hours jumping out of a plane on Saturday, July 22.

A unique mission backed the daring stunt with dozens of consecutive parachute jumps. “I wanted to do something big to help a lot of people,” Scutt said.

Scutt planned a fundraiser around his jumps called “John’s 57” to raise thousands of dollars for cancer patients in his community. The tribute was all in the name of his dad, John Scutt, who died of pancreatic cancer at 57 years old in 2020.

“My dad was a great guy. He did a lot of things for this community. He was always a big dreamer,” Scutt said.

His late father was a member of the Bennington Rural Fire Department for many years. When John was diagnosed with cancer, he still found a way to give back. He complied and handed out “ditty bags” to other chemotherapy patients at the hospital. The bags contained personal items to help them during their treatment—everything from lotion and lip balm to books and Gatorade.

Through a Facebook Fundraiser, Scutt set a goal of $15,700 to assemble 570 ditty bags for Southwestern Vermont Regional Cancer Center and Dartmouth Hitchcock Cancer Center chemotherapy patients.

Scutt’s message for families with a loved one in chemotherapy? “Stay positive.”