At first glance, Christina Cabrera’s room looks like a typical 17-year-old girl’s: her softball jerseys from Lewisville High School, stuffed animals, bright colors everywhere.

And a dialysis machine.

But that one difference in furnishing, however unwanted, is bridging the gap between rivals and rallying a community.

It started last month, when Cabrera’s near-constant pains finally became too much for her to handle. Her parents, Raul and Maria Cabrera, took her to the doctor.

“I just figured it would be a routine check-up,” Raul Cabrera said. “Then when the doctor called me himself, I knew something was going on.”

The pains, which Christina said had been bothering her for quite a while, turned out to be kidney failure, a devastating and dumbfounding diagnosis for an otherwise-healthy teenage girl.

“They rushed me to the hospital and got me into surgery,” Christina Cabrera said. “They put me on chemo dialysis right away.

“… It stopped everything.”

Everything included her junior season as an outfielder for the Lewisville Lady Farmers. Now, instead of diving for fly balls and chugging around the bases, Cabrera is strapped to her dialysis machine daily, waiting for her condition to stabilize so that she can be put on a transplant waiting list.

Across town two days after the diagnosis, Taylor Hoagland heard the news.

“At first, I just tried to make sense of it,” said Hoagland, an infielder on the Flower Mound High School softball squad who has played with and against Cabrera for almost ten years. “Then I just started crying.”

But when Hoagland told the news her mother, Softball Booster Club president Nesa Grider, the pair’s tears turned to ideas.

“We’ve engaged our players to be community service-oriented,” Grider said. “This is now our big program for the year to help out a family that really needs it.”

But what about the rivalry? After all, the Farmers and Jaguars aren’t exactly friendly when it comes to athletics.

“That doesn’t matter. She’s a person,” Flower Mound outfielder Kelleigh Downs said. “She needs help, and this is just a good thing to do.”

So the Flower Mound High School softball team began raising money for Cabrera, a rival that many, including Downs, did not even know. Hoagland said the team is trying to get all Lewisville ISD schools involved in donation tables. There’s a 5K run scheduled for April 27 to benefit Cabrera. The team is trying to organize an LISD Softball All-Star Game to raise funds.

But the first fundraiser will come March 28, when Lewisville softball plays Flower Mound at noon at Flower Mound High. During the game, the team will pass around the Jag Paw bucket to raise funds. The overall goal is to raise $10,000 for Cabrera.

Cabrera will be there, too, to throw out the first pitch. She flashes a coy smile when asked about her friendly rivals.

“I was surprised and happy when I heard about it,” Cabrera said. “I mean, I didn’t think they even remembered who I was. It just makes me feel really good. I’m really thankful for everyone.”

The first pitch at the game will not be easy either; after all, Cabrera is an outfielder, not a pitcher. But her attitude toward that small hurdle is reflective of her attitude towards greater challenges.

“I don’t know how,” Cabrera said, “but I’m going to do it."

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Who: Lewisville vs. Flower Mound

Where: Flower Mound High School, 3411 Peters Colony Road

When: Saturday, March 28, 12 p.m.

Donations will be collected in the Jag Paw bucket to benefit Lewisville junior outfielder Christina Cabrera, who is suffering from kidney failure. Cabrera will also throw out the first pitch.

March is National Kidney Month in the United States.

To learn more about kidney disease, how it is diagnosed and how it should be treated, or to find out about free kidney screenings, contact the National Kidney Foundation at www.kidney.org or (800) 622-9010.