Mainly, he just liked the challenge.

Cardenas could've pointed to the nearby tractor and suggested it handle the 8-inch-in-diameter wooden poles. He didn't because, "That's not how he is," says his mom, Tamera Griffith. He stepped under the fence, moving it despite the loud pop and shooting pain from his spine. Cardenas knew at the time "I messed up my back bad," but he didn't retreat to the couch after that work day in the summer of 1998.

He went to football practice with a broken vertebrae in his back.

Goldendale coaches had the players running 40-yard dashes that day, and the soon-to-be sophomore still felt fast. He even ran to practice to warm up. Could he cover the distance in 4.7 seconds? Maybe 4.65?

"I ran a 5.2," says Cardenas of that summer practice. "Coach gave me crap, so I ran again in 5.3. By the time the day was over, I was running 5.6."

That is what he remembers. Accepting the lifting challenge put Cardenas on a path toward a day when he might not even be able to stand, let alone walk, run or, most importantly, play football. But he still ends his story with the disappointing 40 time.

Doctors recently told Cardenas, now 25, he's probably about 10 years away from his vertebrae seizing up like an engine with no oil. He's got Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), a chronic inflammation of the spine. Over time, and depending on the severity of the case, those who suffer from the disease can lose mobility as the vertebrae fuse.

Cardenas is among the 1 percent of the population affected by the disease, which often is linked to heredity. His mom didn't know of any relatives who had been diagnosed, but she suspected her grandmother had something similar after listening to family members' stories. AS doesn't always show itself and, according to medicinenet.com, environmental factors like his back-cracking fence incident might have triggered the symptoms.

Pain walks hand in hand with the disease. Struggling just to turn his head or raise his arm kept him off the high school football field for two seasons. His grades also plummeted; so did his hopes of one day being a teacher. The completion of an associate degree at Yakima Valley Community College waited until doctors started him on Remicade, a powerful anti-inflammatory that requires
3-hour-long infusions and costs around the price of a cheap car at $10,928.50. Since he has insurance, his out-of-pocket cost is still a hefty $1,911.27, or a nice flat-screen television.

The disease can affect other parts of his body. His knees have filled with fluid along with his toes -- swollen like sausages -- and left him hobbling in pain. His Remicade side effects include drowsiness and an omnipresent upper-respiratory infection. A family doctor told him his body shows symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Yet he still plays football for the Yakima Mavericks. His teammates call the three-time Evergreen Football League all-star the "Bull," and he doesn't describe game day as the weekly "car wreck." He prefers "semi-wreck," but keeps showing up no matter how badly he aches.

"It's indescribable how passionate I am about playing football," Cardenas says. "There are very few things I'm so passionate about. It's sad but true."

Semipro football, with all the full-contact roughness and none of the paychecks, was made for guys like Cardenas. To him, the sport's Philistines use flags or two-hand tap in even friendly games. He cracks plastic with anyone willing to test his 5-foot-9, 225-pound fullback frame. Teammate and friend Devin McDaniel often plays matador in practice because Cardenas is "always lowering his horns. ... Not too many people like giving themselves snot bubbles."

This season, he's helped protect quarterback James Phillips from blitzers looking to disrupt Yakima's pass-first offense. Five to 10 short carries are all he gets in most games, but he doesn't mind with the team off to a 9-0 start and in the hunt for its first EFL championship. Most of his teammates don't even know about his disease.

Because he doesn't play like somebody with chronic back pain. He'll charge head-first into a lineman and still get off the field on his own feet. Besides missing six games last season because of cracked ribs and a foot injury, he's an experienced regular in his fifth season. "He's been here since day one," says Nathan Soptich, Yakima's general manager.

Cardenas just wants to play while he can. So much so he returned to the field for his senior season at Goldendale before graduating in 2001. The team wasn't expected to be good and delivered, going 0-9 despite Cardenas putting up an all-league season at linebacker and running the ball on offense. His condition rarely allowed him to practice, forcing him to the whirlpool for treatment instead of polishing technique.

Griffith couldn't hold her children back from any of their dreams -- then or now. No, she didn't want him back on the field risking everything from paralysis to arthritis, but she let him play in high school. What she didn't foresee was another gridiron return after he drank a few beers with some Yakima Valley Scorpions -- the precursor to the Mavs -- five years ago.

Cardenas shouldn't still be playing football. He admits this and doesn't know where the AS stops and the old football injuries begin sometimes. His parents pleaded -- Mom even cried -- to keep him off the football field before again relenting and settling into the stands as supporters for his first semipro game.

"I was happy to be on the field, but there were mixed emotions in the back of my head," Cardenas said. "There was some paranoia when I first got out there.

"The first hit, my back popped, and I was like, 'Uh-oh.' But it was my back just loosening up."

Things have tightened since then. One past employer let him go because managers didn't like him using the sick time allotted. Now he works as an outside sales representative for Kimmel Athletic Supply, which understands his condition and provides him with much-needed medical insurance. He gets two Remicade shots a year -- one before football begins and one right after the season ends -- but still struggles to sleep in stiffness and pain.

With his girlfriend, Lindsay Farris, eight weeks pregnant, he decided this will be his last season. Possibly being able to play with his kid 10 years from now took precedent over smashing into some linebacker. His only fear is off the field -- passing AS to his child.

Despite all his setbacks, the regrets are easier because he has none. Only hopes, even if they include watching football from a wheelchair someday.

"I'm just saying goodbye," Cardenas said. "Hopefully, I can do some coaching and be involved in football that way.

"If I can be around it in some way, I'd be happy."

Facts about Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS)

* AS (pronounced ank-kih-low-sing spon-dill-eye-tiss) is arthritis of the spine that often first affects young people between ages of 17 and 35.

* There are at least half a million people with AS in the United States, but many don't know they have the disease so most cases are not reported. AS is more prevalent than multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis and Lou Gehrig's Disease combined.

* AS is the most overlooked cause of persistent back pain in young adults because it's difficult to diagnose.

* AS can damage other joints such as the hips and shoulders, including other areas of the body like eyes, heart and lungs.

* AS causes pain and spinal stiffness and, in severe cases, the spine fuses solidly in a forward-stooped posture.

SOURCE: www.spondylitis.org.