Texas-born actor and comedian Reginald Ballard has lived with kidney disease for nearly his entire life.

After eight years on transplant lists, a San Antonio woman donated her kidney to her mother to save her life, and now they’re sharing their story to bring awareness to kidney disease.

Governor Greg Abbott has re-imposed the state's Chronic Kidney Disease Task Force and just announced the task force chairman will be prestigious kidney disease expert Dr. Francis Wright from San Antonio.

However, due to COVID-19, the annual event held at the Alamo Drafthouse at Park North could not take place. That didnt prevent the foundation from still awarding college scholarships. The Maria Villanueva Scholarship was started in 2014 to help college students who have been affected by kidney disease pay their college expenses. The scholarship was started by KSAT 12 Sports Producer Daniel P. Villanueva in memory of his mother who passed away in 2011. Daniel P. Villanueva has worked with KSAT 12 Sports for over 17 years and is an award-winning sports producer.