Pearland High School Senior and former Make-A-Wish Foundation wish recipient Robin Spidell, center,and his mom, Cheryl Smith, right, who serves on the local Make-A-Wish Foundation board, accept a donation to the organization from Association Management Inc. co-founders David and Glenda Regenbaum.: Courtesy Association Management Inc.
Here's Robin and his mom at a 1998 at a party celebrating his final cancer treatment.: Ben Desoto: Chronicle

Do you remember Robin Spidell, the young Pearland cancer patient who warmed hearts 13 years ago when he told the Make-A-Wish Foundation that his one dream was to give out ice cream to kids in his neighborhood?

Granted his wish, that 4-year-old spent a day behind the counter of an ice cream truck, giving out frozen treats while wearing a big grin and a hat that said "Ice Cream Man."

Now Spidell is preparing to graduate from Pearland High School and will attend Southwestern University in Georgetown for the fall.

He's going to the United Kingdom this summer and, surprise, he's planning to do mission work with his church, Friendswood United Methodist.

As a child he endured more than 2 1/2 years of treatments, sometimes painful, for T-cell lymphoma. When he wasn't in the hospital, he looked forward to visits from the local ice cream man, which led to his request from Make-A-Wish Foundation of the Texas Gulf Coast & Louisiana, a nonprofit group that caters to terminally ill or serious ill children.

Spidell recently appeared with his mother, Cheryl Smith, to accept a $65,000 check from Association Management Inc., a company that manages homeowners associations for Houstona-area communities including in Shadow Creek Ranch, and from 200 AMI employees and 44 vendor companies.

Robin Spidell brought along his old cap to the check presentation event.: Courtesy Association Management Inc.
Smith is a board member for the Gulf Coast branch of Make-A-Wish.

“The whole cancer treatment process was hard on Robin and each member of our family," Smith said, according to an AMI press release. "But he had this incredible opportunity, and he really wanted to give to other people. That’s just how he is. Even as a typical teenager he has the best heart. He will always help anyone. As a mom, I have a lot to be thankful for.”

Robin Spidell brought along something to the check presentation event.

It was his "Ice Cream Man" hat.