The following is a Daily News article:

Brooklynites Idy and Ari Friedman still vividly recall the painful treatments and the long, bleak hospital stays that their young son endured before he lost his seven-year battle with cancer 17 years ago.

“It’s the most terrible thing. You don’t know when it’s going to end or how it’s going to end,” said Idy, 53. “That last year, it was so cold, and he had nothing to look forward to.”

So after their son Meir died just two weeks shy of his 10th birthday, the Friedmans were determined to bring light into the lives of other sick kids facing dark diagnoses.

Since 1994, the Flatbush couple has sent hundreds of kids fighting cancer on an annual four-day Chanukah trip to Orlando — packed with stops at Sea World, the Magic Kingdom and Universal Theme Park — through their nonprofit Ohr Meir Foundation.

“You could sulk and not get out of bed,” said Ari, 55, who owns an insurance brokerage and returned from this year’s trip last week. “But when life deals you lemons, you can squeeze those lemons and turn them into lemonade, and that’s what we did.”

About 50 kids went on this year’s trip, which the couple — helped by a crew of volunteers that often includes their six grown children — spends months planning down to the last detail.

Many of the children, who range in age from about 4 to 19, are weakened and left bald by chemo treatments. Each child is paired with a volunteer counselor, and the group travels with two doctors and two nurses.

The Friedmans try to provide surprises at every turn, from a $100 toy shopping spree to cartoon-themed bed linens to keep.

“We want to take them out of their hospital beds and whisk them away from reality,” Idy said. “We’re hoping the memory of it lasts for months and months after.”

That has been the case for Elisheva Gitelis, 8, from Midwood, who took the trip last year.

“It was very fun,” said Elisheva, who was diagnosed with bone cancer in her leg at age 5 and has undergone numerous surgeries. “After I went, I felt happy because now I have memories and pictures.”

Her parents said she often sleeps with an iPod Touch she got during the trip.

“It was like a dream come true for her,” said her mother, Yael Gitelis, 33.

The trip also gives kids the chance to be around others going through similar hardships, said Rachel, 21, a Brooklyn College student who asked that her last name not be used.

She joined the trip last year after being treated for lymphoma, and this year volunteered to help pack welcome packages that get sent to all the kids before the trip.

“It was the first time in a while I was able to have fun. Everyone was in such a good mood no matter what was going on with them,” she said. “The Friedman family set the tone … Their positive attitude overflows onto everyone.”

(Source: NY Daily News)