LAS VEGAS — While Sunday figures to be a battle between the 49ers and Chiefs in the Super Bowl, for one San Francisco coach from Hempstead in Waller County, it's an everyday fight with cancer.
Johnny Holland is talking a lot of football.
"I was blessed to be to play the position," he said.
But we wanted to speak to him about something more personal.
Holland coaches the 49ers linebackers, a position he starred at while at Texas A&M and then in the pros. Coaching in the big game, he claims is much more difficult.
"We got a lot of time and two weeks before the game and so a lot of stuff does come up," he said.
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Nothing compares to what Johnny's been dealing with since 2019. After feeling pain in his shoulders and ribs, the diagnosis was multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer which has no cure.
He's been receiving treatment as part of a clinical trial at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center.
"I'm feeling great, still taking treatment," he said. "Actually, I take treatment once a month now. I was doing it every week and that was a grind."
Through it all, 49er players say Johnny Holland is still Johnny on the spot.
"He is just unbelievable coach, unbelievable spirit, unbelievable guy," San Francisco linebacker Dre Greenlaw said.
Holland was diagnosed before the 49ers last Super Bowl against the same Kansas City Chiefs, Holland now sits at a roundtable in Las Vegas, fortunate to be focusing on Xs and Os and not chemo.
"I look back at that time and reflect back to how blessed I am to be able to still continue to do this at a high level and being in a Super Bowl again, it's just been awesome for me," Holland said.
Being in these trials, Holland told CBS News it's not just about extending his life, it's also about potentially helping others.