The brave parachute enthusiast from Sunderland aims to jump a total of one million feet in eight countries after fighting off bowel cancer.

John, 56, started his tour on the other side of the Irish Sea, where he did three jumps in Northern Ireland after the weather spoiled his plans in the Republic of Ireland.

The dad-of-one, from Hendon, was delighted to finally get his six-month trip started.

"I was told in advance that I would be impressed with the set-up in Ireland," said John.

"If you are a skydiver go there. You will not be disappointed."He was struck down at the age of 26 with ulcerative colitis, which developed into bowel cancer four years ago.

The cancer has gone but can come back at any time, so John decided he would live out his dream trip while raising money for the National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease.

He recently he completed a 10,000ft jump in Spain before heading to South Africa, Australia, Brazil, the U.S. and Canada in the coming months.

In Ireland he visited the Irish Parachute Centre, 45 miles west of Dublin.

"The centre has been running since 1956 and they are well established in the local area. Unfortunately the weather did not play ball," said John, who also works as an instructor at Peterlee Parachute Centre.

"I was hoping to jump on Saturday morning, but it was raining and the cloud base was too low. Apparently it cleared about an hour after I left.

"That's skydiving."

In Northern Ireland he visited jump station Wild Geese, located between Belfast and Londonderry, where he jumped three times over two days."John McCourt, a friend of mine, picked me up from Londonderry Airport.

"He had it all thought out and within an hour and a half I was at 13,500ft doing a two way skydive," said John, who works at Pendragon, in Doxford Park.

"It has great facilities and the staff could not have been more helpful."

Anyone who wants to make a donation can visit www.justgiving.com/johnhillam, and people can email John at john.hillam07@sky.com