SI Advance

But yesterday, he literally dropped from the heavens to help bring hope to children born with Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, a deadly illness.

To raise funds for a clinical drug trial that would treat children born with progeria -- the rare and fatal disorder that gives children the appearance of accelerated aging -- Brody aimed to make 50 consecutive skydiving jumps from 2,800 feet above the Blue Sky Ranch in upstate Gardiner.

After dense fog made for a late morning start, Brody raced against sundown and fell just a dozen jumps shy of his goal. He and his diving companions, Lou Marra of Valley Stream, Long Island, and Spike Kingsley of North Granby, Conn., tallied 107 touchdowns and some $2,000 in pledges.

The three daredevils packed tightly into a little black Cessna, a three-wheeler with a front propeller, took off down a half-mile strip of runway and launched again and again into the blue.

From the ground, the jumpers could be seen as soon as they hurled themselves earthward, splinter-sized, their human shapes just barely discernible.

Each jump, Brody said a prayer: Bless my family, bless me, bless the children I'm jumping for and please let the chute open.

Brody, an Eltingville resident and the great-nephew of Anthony Gaeta, the late borough president, has never met any of the 12 children in the United States currently known to have progeria. But he was especially moved by the story of 2-year-old Lindsay Ratcliffe of Flat Rock, Mich., which he read on the Web site of the Progeria Research Foundation (www.progeriaresearch.org).

FUTURE EFFORTS
Several months ago, Brody contacted the foundation about initiating what he hopes will be an annual parachuting fund-raiser for the first-ever drug trial.

"There's a hope this drug could treat or even cure the disease," said Audrey Gordon, executive director of the Progeria Research Foundation, which three years ago helped identify the gene that causes the disorder. "We need to raise $2 million to fund the trial and we have an anonymous donor matching funds raised through the end of the year. And with people like Mike, this is such an exciting time."

Brody also contacted the Ratcliffe family, leaving short notes in Lindsay's on-line guestbook, like the one he wrote Wednesday, punctuated by a winking smiley-face: "...Say a prayer for (my jumps), Lindsay, I'm sure God listens to His favorite little ones a little more than me."

Brody, 35, said he didn't think children should ever have to face dying, and had just decided it was time for him to help. He asked everyone he knew to donate $1 per jump to help kids with progeria worldwide, who are not expected to live to adulthood.

'HOP AND POP'
For about nine hours yesterday, the skydivers were dropped for low-altitude jumps they called "hop and pops," because their broad, bright-colored canopies were almost immediately deployed.

The highest drama came on jump 27, when Marra's parachute was cut and draped itself over telephone wires near the drop zone while Marra glided in using his reserve chute.

Brody stubbed his toe on jump seven and was stung by a bee on jump 29, prompting him to run to the car, pop a Tylenol and shove on for more jumps.

By jump 34, the trio was still jumping over leafy trees and apple orchards, looking over the snaky Wall Kill river and the brown Shawangunk Mountains -- but they were running out of daylight.

"I think it's amazing," said Lindsay's grandmother, Rosemary Souva, reached at home in Flat Rock last night. "(Mike) doesn't know Lindsay at all, and it's touching he's doing something so big. In the past year, we've come across so many good people like Mike Brody. That's something great that Lindsay has brought to our lives."

Those wishing to contribute may call visit the foundation's Web site or call them directly at 978-535-2594, mentioning the Parachuting for Progeria fund-raiser.