Although Jake Parker grew up in Braintree, Massachusetts, nearly 1,000 miles from Howard's Rock, he was a "rabid Clemson Tigers fan," his dad, Giles Parker, wrote.

On Sunday, Jake died at age 14 after living with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

The Parker family's story was shared with Clemson fans back in 2017 when Giles set up a page on the GoFundMe crowdfunding platform to raise money for Jake to attend the national championship game in Tampa, Florida. Together, 71 people raised $4,975 to send Jake to the game. Money raised beyond travel costs was donated to the organization Coach To Cure MD.

Now, Giles has started another fundraiser. This time it is to honor Jake's life by raising money for scholarships to help Braintree High School graduates attend Clemson University. More than $11,000 had been raised as of Wednesday morning.

Mark Spede, director of bands for Tiger Band, had a special relationship with the Parker family. Before the 2016 National Championship game, he heard about Jake's story from Hack Trammell, the director for the Clemson University Foundation.

Spede volunteered to put together some Clemson gear for Jake. At the band pep rally before the game in Tampa, he made arrangements to meet with the Parker family and surprised Jake with a football signed by Dabo Swinney.

"We became fast friends, and I stayed in contact with them," Spede said.

In the summer of 2018, the family made a trek down to Clemson to see the campus. Will Swinney, team member and son of the coach, coordinated a tour of the football facility for them, and Spede joined.

Jake's love for Clemson started in 2015, Giles said. Living near Boston, he had his pick of professional sports teams to root for. When it came to college football though, he did not know who to choose. Watching Clemson defeat Miami 58 to 0 that year though, he picked his favorite team.

Giles, who had no previous connection with the university, said Clemson is now in the Parker family blood.

"Many schools pride themselves on being a family environment, but Clemson takes it to a whole different level," Giles said. "They embraced us in such a natural way."

Jake loved travel and dreamed of coming to a football game in Death Valley, Spede said, but he was not able to check that off his wish list.

Spede got an email from Giles on Sunday night with the news of Jake's death. It had happened unexpectedly. The life expectancy for Jake's form of muscular dystrophy is early to mid-20s, Spede said.

"It is really heartbreaking they didn’t get all the time they wanted to together," Spede said.

In the days since Jake's death, students at his middle school have worn orange to honor him. Beth Moore, with the Clemson University Foundation, is sending Giles a Clemson tie to wear at the services for Jake.

The Parker family set up a Facebook page in 2014 called Jake's Journey. A post from March shows Jake and his parents at a Clemson baseball game at Boston College.

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"When we see orange and purple, we know that we’ll get treated like family!" the post said.

The Facebook page is also filled with pictures of shamrock cutouts used to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. At the request of the Jake's parents, people from around the world posted pictures of the shamrocks at different landmarks "that Jake may never have a chance to see."

In Jake's story, Spede sees lessons for the Clemson family and his band members.

"My message is always seize the day because you never know when it is going to be taken away," Spede said. "We are fortunate when we have good health, and we need to support those when we can who don’t. That was my intention, to help this family going through a difficult time."