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Blog & News

Caden’s Wish to Meet a Shark Comes True

Inspiration Posted July 14, 2022

Making Wishes Come True with Our Marine Life Residents

Six-year-old Caden Roberts loves marine life and sharks are his favorite. He often watched shows about them when he was in the hospital receiving treatment for leukemia, which further fueled his love for sharks. Currently in remission, Caden and his family traveled to CMA from Virginia for his Make-A-Wish trip.

When our staff learned about Caden’s interest in sharks, it was clear that we had to introduce him to Thelma the nurse shark. As we had hoped, it was a huge hit for this budding shark enthusiast!

Caden was excited and admitted he was a little nervous, but once he got down eye-to-eye with Thelma, he forgot about being nervous and his excitement and enthusiasm took over. He was surprised each time she sucked in the food making a big popping noise and Caden responded with a “WOW” each time! 

Caden feeding Thelma a shrimp during his interaction

Caden also got to meet the other resident animals and enjoyed all of it but meeting Thelma was the highlight of his day.  There is no substitute for hands-on experience and we are hopeful that Caden is inspired to learn more about sharks and marine life after his visit.

Caden and his family when meeting Nicholas the dolphin

We are proud to partner with Make-A-Wish of Southeast Florida and Make-A-Wish America. Make-A-Wish helps fulfill the wishes of children with a critical illness.  Research shows children who have wishes granted can build the physical and emotional strength they need to fight their illness.

Learn more about the CMA Inspires program.

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Clearwater, FL 33767
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