WHITELAND, Ind. (WISH) — A Whiteland family is celebrating their son’s birthday this weekend after he passed away from a rare genetic disease a few months ago. Ryan Latham would’ve been 16 years old this Tuesday.

Carol and Steven Latham say they wanted to do something he would have loved. So Saturday night, in Ryan’s honor, they went axe-throwing.

Ryan Latham had never been axe-throwing, but it was something crazy, loud, and messy — just exactly what he would have wanted to spend his 16th birthday doing, his parents said.

“He would definitely be like ‘Look, you’re doing it wrong,’” Carol Latham said. “He was the best at everything and he knew that he was the best at everything. That’s how he walked through life.”

Ryan died in August from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a rare genetic disease that the family is still working to figure out.

“And they have not found the gene that we wanted to find,” Carol Latham said. “So, Ryan’s blood is actually going to the CDC where they’ll test over 22,000 genes to try and figure out exactly what happened.”

Even though he’s gone, his parents want him to be remembered as the goofy kid with a heart of gold. They want to watch as his legacy is carried on through a football scholarship for Whiteland offensive linemen- based around his favorite quote by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

“His scholarship is called the blood, sweat, respect scholarship,” Carol Latham said. “There’s a very famous quote by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. It was actually on one of Ryan’s last papers he ever filled out. They asked for his favorite quote and he put that quote: ‘It’s blood, sweat, respect…the first two you give. The last one, you earn.’ So, the criteria for the scholarship is that they have to write about what those words mean to them- not only in the sport of football, but also in their everyday life.”

The Lathams hope, eventually, they can give the scholarship to multiple Johnson County football teams. They say Ryan would hope those recipients live by his favorite quote and work hard in his name.

“He would tell them not to mess it up,” Carol Latham said. “Because he was very blunt and very, kind of, crazy and he’s be like, ‘I gave you money, don’t mess this up!’”

The Lathams are still collecting money for Ryan’s scholarship through a GoFundMe. They’ve already raised $20,000.