Like many football players, Nicholas Ayers, 17, said he gets a "rush" from playing the sport.
"I like the adrenaline. It gets your heart pumping and stuff and I like that feeling," he said.
Ayers said he played football from the time he was in the third grade until his junior year in high school. That's when he was diagnosed with a chronic liver disease and had to give up playing the sport.
"It's been hard but I've gotten use to it," he said.
"Just going to the game every Friday, we really miss that," said his mother, Shannon Wilder. "He's been really down. I feel like he didn't even want to go to the high school games because he couldn't be out there."
When Make-A-Wish of Central and Northern Florida offered Ayers a "wish," he knew he wanted it to have something to do with football.
Wish granted.
The organization got Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Gerald McCoy to give Ayers and his family a VIP tour of the Bucs Training Facility. They were shown the team's meeting room, training field, press podium, cafeteria and weight room. McCoy also gave Ayers an autographed cap and football.
"It was unbelievable. It was amazing. It was a dream come true. I'm at a loss for words. It was crazy," said Ayers.
Make-A-Wish will also be flying the teen and his family to San Diego to attend a San Diego Chargers game and to visit family there.
Ayers said it will be his first time attending a professional football game.