Cancer survivor wins Gator in raffle

And the winner is…

Bryant Sutfin of rural Montezuma is the winner and new owner of a 2023 John Deere Gator 835M raffled off during the Dan Mauss Benefit last month.

Brian Van Roekel and Mauss, both with Van Wall Equipment in Grinnell, delivered the new Gator to Sutfin at his parent’s house in rural Montezuma Feb. 6.

Bryant was joined by his parent’s, Billy and Tammy Sutfin, his brother, Brandon Sutfin and his wife, Rylee, and two boys, Lucas, almost 3 and Bentley, two weeks old, during the brief gathering. He then promptly gave his wife and two boys a spin in the new Gator around the farm.

The Dan Mauss Benefit was held Jan. 27 at the Poweshiek County Fairgrounds Exhibit Building in Grinnell. An estimated 1,000 family, friends, local and area farmers and customers of Mauss and others were in attendance at the benefit.

The evening included silent and live auctions, a 50-50 drawing, the Gator raffle and food prepared by Paglia’s in Grinnell.

Mauss, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor Nov. 16., had surgery Nov. 22 and went home Nov. 24. He finished chemotherapy and radiation treatments Feb. 14 and says he’s beating the cancer.

Amazingly, Sutfin is a cancer survivor himself.

In December 2015 while on Christmas break from Kirkwood, Sutfin, a 2014 graduate of Montezuma High School, noticed a lump on his neck. His first thought was it was a swollen lymph node from having a sore throat.

At the beginning of January, the lump was still there, and Sutfin was having what he and his family thought were symptoms of pneumonia.

His mother, Tammy, took him to the emergency room at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City where doctors determined after a chest X-ray that Sutfin had a mass sitting over his upper chest.

“Within a few days and several tests, doctors determined I had Non-Hodgkin T-Cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma,” said Sutfin.

Sutfin was transferred to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics where he started a treatment plan in mid-January 2016. He was in the hospital for 30 days at the beginning and off-and-on throughout his treatment plan that lasted 3 1/2 years.

His final treatment was in May 2019. Sutfin is currently cancer free.

Since his cancer treatments, Sutfin has had to have one hip replacement and two elbow surgeries due to his bones deteriorating from the steroids.

Sutfin and Rylee were married in July 2019. The couple lives between Gibson and Barnes City.

Sutfin works for the Iowa Department of Transportation out of the Malcom shop and farms with his dad and brother.

Rylee graduated from Des Moines University in May 2023 with her physician’s assistant degree. She works at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in the Cardiac Thoracic Department.