At the age of five, Syler began having vision issues. Doctors had trouble pinning down the cause, but after a few years of searching, he was diagnosed with a genetic disorder called Batten’s CLN-3. Right now, he’s blind, but in the future, he will have seizures and other complications.

When he found out that he was getting a wish, Syler said that it made him feel “good” and “excited.” A Make-A-Wish® Idaho representative talked him through the wish process and asked him questions about what he wanted without directing him.

Syler said what he really wanted was to find shark teeth, specifically megalodon teeth. Syler loves sharks and made a wish to be a paleontologist so he could have the fully tactile experience of hunting down shark teeth, specifically rare megalodon teeth.

There aren’t many sharks in Idaho, so Syler and family flew to Savannah, Georgia which is near Tybee Island known for its abundance of shark teeth. During his trip, Syler was able to sit in the cockpit. “I went and sat down and could feel the buttons,” he said.

While in Savannah, Syler and family went to the Plant Riverside District where they have a museum in an old power plant with dinosaur bones and geodes that are ten-feet tall. There was even a dinosaur in his hotel. The family had a tour guide that took them on a big tour of dinosaurs. “He absolutely loved that. He nerded out. That was great,” his mom Khirra said.

During his trip, Syler had a chance to go fishing on a private fishing boat. The captain of the boat said that he had planned to elope that day, but when he found out that a wish kid needed a boat for the afternoon, he rescheduled his marriage so Syler could go fishing. Syler even caught the first fish! “We caught a fish, a salmon, and it slipped right out. We got a red drum fish,” Syler said. On another day, they visited a cathedral that was closed, but being a wish kid, they let him in anyway.

But the most important part of the wish was searching for shark teeth. Sylar had two days of searching, one day on Tybee Island and another day on a different island. He found megalodon teeth on both. A local expert taught Syler to feel for the shark teeth in the sand, to use the wind to figure out where small shells and shark teeth will accumulate. “I have eight megalodon teeth. I bought two and six I found. I found seven goblin shark teeth. I got twelve great white shark teeth and one bull shark tooth,” Syler said. “They feel smooth and are in good shape.”

“He was so excited about finding things, “wish mom Khirra said. “He’ll go through all the shark teeth and feel the serrations — tiger shark, bull shark. Syler won’t stop talking about all the teeth that he has.”

On his return trip, there was still one more surprise. Syler competes in Judo. On his connecting flight home, Syler happened to be on the same flight as his Judo team who were coming home from a competition. Syler returned to Idaho with his pals and a pocketful of shark teeth.