KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The banging of the drum is a ritual seen before every Kansas City Chiefs home game.
Cy Fillmore is the man who created it eight years ago. While the Chiefs beat the drum, Fillmore has a challenge of his own that he's trying to beat.
"It was odd sitting in the hospital watching the Super Bowl," Fillmore said.
For months, Fillmore has been in and out of the hospital after being diagnosed with stage three liposarcoma.
"Hence why I'm nearly hairless, I'm figuring the eyebrows are going next," Fillmore said on Friday.
Fighting cancer, Fillmore missed out on his ticket to Super Bowl LIV, but he hoped a piece of him would make it to Miami.
"Every time (the drum) gets played, makes it on the TV, makes it onto whatever media, and especially if there's a photo, somebody shares that photo and I get tagged on Facebook," Fillmore said.
In 2012, the Chiefs called Fillmore to ask him if he'd take on the job of building the iconic drum.
"At the time, I thought, 'Wow, if I get this out there and people know I can build this drum, maybe people will call and order drums,'" Fillmore said.
Aside from building drums, Fillmore does other woodwork, but lately he hasn't been able to do it as often as he'd like due to his cancer.
"I do chainsaw carvings and stuff like that, but right now getting out and doing chainsaw carvings, that's not happening," he said.
It was hard for him to ask for help, but Fillmore is hopeful Chiefs Kingdom will step up and donate money for his medical bills.
"It's hard for people like me to ask for help in the first place, so then I always feel like I don't want to ask for too much," Fillmore said.
More than halfway shy of his goal, Fillmore is keeping a positive outlook and attitude.
"I have to stay positive so that I can carry that through. This pain is only going to last a little while, and when it's done, I wake up to a stronger, newer, better me," Fillmore said.
With two more rounds of chemotherapy to go, Fillmore is hoping for some good news before his big 50th birthday on March 25.
