Robin Kreinsen (image: right, with her husband Charley and Christine Randise, AAA Penfield manager) has just one holiday wish this year – for a ray of hope.

Robin, a 40-year employee of AAA Western and Central New York, has watched her son Chas’ health decline over the years after an 18-year struggle with diabetes took its toll three years ago.

33-year-old Chas lost his sight, his kidneys failed, and he has been in and out of the hospital. But now Robin, team leader at AAA’s Travel & Insurance Center in Penfield, is hoping that a kidney exchange program will offer a ray of hope that Chas so desperately needs.

“The past two years have been very rough, Robin said. “I see my son, who is now legally blind, coming from dialysis and it’s horrible.”

In early December, that should all change. Through an exchange program, Robin plans to donate one of her kidneys to a 50-year-old in Pennsylvania while Chas will receive a kidney from a 20-year-old in Massachusetts. The surgery will be performed at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester.

“Last year I tested and I’m actually his match, but because of my age, he’d be getting a 60-year-old kidney,” Robin explained. “Because of our age difference, we were asked to join the exchange program.”

When asked if she was nervous, Robin, a loving mother, replied, “I’m more nervous for him.”

Robin and her husband Charley, son Chas (in red shirt), son Benjamin with girlfriend Meredith and their sons Emmett and Walter, daughter Amy with fiancé Michael and son Jayden and daughters Makayla and Maddison.

That’s despite a six-week estimated recovery with two years of monitoring for Robin as a donor. Yet after enduring Chas’ battle with diabetes since he was a teenager, she looks forward to the transplants with a positive outlook.

“This works well – two people are benefitting. These operations have a 95 percent success rate,” she said. “We’re excited about this new opportunity.”

As Robin and her family prepare to celebrate the holidays, she has just one wish for others. “I think everyone should sign up to be an organ donor,” she shared. “I’ve always been an organ donor – you can’t take it with you so I’m doing this now to help someone else. If I’m able to help, I’m glad to.”

As for Chas, Robin is hopeful that he will see a much anticipated improvement following the transplant.

“He’s in good spirits,” she said. “That ray of hope is so important.”