It was a fitting sendoff for four-year-old Jacob Stern — dozens of Jeeps parading through Kentville, N.S., in his memory.

Jacob lost his battle with rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of aggressive muscular cancer, at his home in Centreville, N.S., Monday, surrounded by his family.

The Jeep club, Pirate Off-Road Nation, coordinated the parade.

"He would know every Jeep, every colour of Jeep and whose Jeep it was. He knows Jeeps, that little guy," said Roger Urquhart, a friend of the Stern family.

Jeep club pirate flags are at half mast in remembrance of Jacob Stern, 4, who died from cancer Monday in Centreville, N.S. 2:14

Love of Jeeps

Jacob's family introduced him to the club two years ago and the connection was instant. The club surprised Jacob in March 2015 with a convoy of 50 Jeeps to help take his mind off cancer. They also bought him a child-sized Jeep.

"He was all about the Jeeps. He loved them, going off-road, going in the woods, and he loved mud. He loved getting muddy," said Jeff Hiltz, the founder of Pirate Off-Road Nation.

Jeeps drove through stormy weather Sunday to lift the spirits of a 3-year-old boy . 1:45

About 100 members of the Jeep club participated in the convoy. The pirate flags on the Jeeps were flying at half-mast. Len Spencer, a Jeep club member, said Jacob's excitement made him feel like a kid again.

'A lot of Jacob in all of us'

"A lot of us, truth be told, are still pretty close to our inner child. There's a lot of Jacob in all of us," Spencer said.

After Jacob's funeral service ended, his Jeep friends took him on one final trip. Members of the Jeep club raised the box containing his ashes to the sky at the look-off in nearby Canning, N.S. His grandmother called it a view of heaven.

"It's brought everybody together as a family. Everybody wants to help, and we all felt like Jacob was our own. To his family, they were touched beyond belief," Hiltz said.