One of our most popular articles this past summer was about DeAnn Fylling, a Minot native who is a member of the 188th Army Band, or the North Dakota Army National Guard. Although dated from this summer, we thought the story would be a nice addition to our Tribute to Service Insert. We hope you enjoy the article about a young woman who has persevered through some trying times. Her battle with breast cancer while maintaining her family life and managing an active career has been an inspiration.

Well, just as North Dakotan is our braggadocios behavior about who is “From Around Here.” I have taken that platform several times to tell folks about best kept secrets. My son(s) call me a professional networker because I seem to know, or know about, almost everyone. In that light, I met up with someone who I think you should all meet. Folks, this week’s article is about DeAnn (Hickel) Fylling, a member of the 188th Army Band, and I am mighty proud to say, “she’s from around here!”
For a couple of months I was able to tell folks about the 188th Military Band appearing at Oak Park on a Sunday night, July 21st. As one of the emcees for the Minot City band, I could proudly and boldy declare that a young lady from Minot, DeAnn Fylling, was one of the leaders of the188th Army Band, that being the position of 1st Sergeant. Of course there are an additional 44 talented musicians in the 188th, but DeAnn is from around here, right?

Growing up just a couple of blocks from our home in northwest Minot, DeAnn’s mom, Shelli, and my wife, Sue worked together for a few years. From that relationship I met DeAnn’s father, Brian. I am going to fast forward a bit and explain that the Wilsons were all boys. We knew DeAnn well, but her path through high school would take her to Bishop Ryan. Our boys went to Minot High. You might say we kind of went separate ways, the Wilsons and the Hickels.

After graduating in 2001 from high school, DeAnn would begin her music education at Jamestown College, “now the University of Jamestown” according to DeAnn. Next? “Well, I taught in Milnor for about 5 years, and then in 2009 my husband and I moved to Bismarck, and we were expecting a baby that fall”. At that time Fylling was already in the Army National Guard, a career that has spanned over 23 years “and of those 23 year I have been in the (Army National Guard) band for 16 of those.”

After spending about a year at home with their first child, DeAnn went back to work full time for the National Guard in a military funeral honors position, which she really enjoyed, but baby #2 would soon be on her way, and “I wanted to spend time at home with my kids, so I’ve been doing the Army Band part time and staying at home part time ever since then” says Fylling.

In the Army National Guard band, Fylling plays saxophone, guitar and does vocals. “We play all different kind of saxophones depending on the need” says Fylling “right now I’ve been doing a lot of baritone (saxophone).”
The 188th is a typical guard unit, in that they drill one weekend per month “and we have an additional 2 weeks that we spread out over the year. We are doing 10 days now. We are here after doing Medora for 3 days. We’ll be here at the North Dakota State Fair for 3 days, we did the Minot Arts in the Parks show and at the end of the week we’ll go to Mohall and Bottineau.”

For 5 days every fall the band does tours of local schools “yeah, it’s really neat. It’s called Music in our Schools tour. So, for 5 days we on tour. We’re based in one place, and we try to hit 6 or 7 schools over the course of a week with all of the different ensembles performing at different schools. We try to get the students involved in our outreach stuff” according to Fylling. After a quick calculation DeAnn comes up with “in my years we’ve probably hit well over 100 schools for sure, showing them what we do and getting them involved.”

The 188th is a deployable unit “but we haven’t been needed overseas at this point” says Fylling “the Army band has done a lot of state side activations. When the DAPL protests were going on we were activated down there for just over a month, and in the 2009 & 2011 floods, which of course very much affected Minot.”

And then we started talking about home. “I feel there are more familiar faces in Minot than anywhere else. I’ve been out of Minot for over 20 plus years. It’s fun to get home and catch up with everyone else in Minot” DeAnn shares with a smile.
Like old friends who catch up, there is always so much to talk about. DeAnn’s father, Brian passed away unexpectedly a few years back, and today’s concert would be a little hard because Brian came to all of her concerts and sat in the front row. And then there’s the battle that the Fylling family is fighting, DeAnn’s breast cancer. I shared with her how much energy she had on stage at the Oak Park concert. “Sometimes you just have to kind of make it work” DeAnn shared. The day I talked with her, a Monday, was her first Monday without a chemotherapy treatment. Except for the obvious loss of hair, you would never know. She still keeps up with her band appearances, her 3 kids and of course a household. Hopefully the next time we talk, we can talk in past tense about her cancer. It will be a battle she has won.

And then there came a voice from stage…” Sound check”. So well-orchestrated, everyone took their place. Today was not going to be a picnic in the park for the 188th jazz band and saxophone quartet; oh, did I mention that DeAnn and the saxophone quartet just returned from a good will tour in Africa? Now let’s get back to the area where the band would perform. It was a very hot, muggy day. But the show must go on, and so it did. DeAnn grabbed her baritone sax, took her seat and was ready to play. Her mom, Shelli, sat next to me, concerned of course for her daughter because of the hot sun.
I learned from a very dedicated journalism teacher back in college that you never end a good story, on a bad note. The concert was absolutely great! Several good notes!

I hope that those who read this story understand the admiration and respect that this journalist has for DeAnn Fylling and the entire 188th Army Band. I also hope all of my readers understand that DeAnn and every member of the band loves what they do. It’s more than just a one weekend a month job.

Finally, if you don’t know DeAnn, I highly encourage you to attend one of the 188th Army Band concerts in the future. Take a couple of minutes after the concert to greet all of the members of the 188th Army Band; but especially DeAnn Fylling, because you know…yes sir, she’s from around here.

The Next 50 Meters
DeAnn Fylling was starting her Monday morning after a week-long guard duty where the 188th Army Band(s) travelled the state performing in schools. “The troops did awesome. In my new position I am more of a people manager than a performer, so my supervisor and I were pretty busy last week.”

And then there is “Super Cooper”. DeAnn returned from guard duty to welcome a new puppy to the Fylling home. Our other dog is getting a bit older, so we think it’s time” share DeAnn.
And then the next 50 meters. DeAnn will start 5 weeks of radiation therapy on November 4th. “Every day for 5 weeks” according to DeAnn “and I also just recently started chemotherapy with a maintenance chemo drug. I get 1 infusion every 3 weeks until June.”

A surgical procedure revealed that 5% of the breast tissue had living cancer cells. “They are almost sure that they removed all of the cancer, but they want to be pro-active” she says.

For a Mom and a career professional, it’s a double edged sword. First it’s the time commitment for the treatments “Fighting breast cancer is a time commitment these days” DeAnn says with a laugh. But then there are the lingering side effects, the most prevalent of which is fatigue. But it comes with the territory, and now DeAnn has to once again rely on family, friends, her church family and of course the 188th Army Band family.

When she found out that she was going to need more radiation & chemo? “At first it was a big disappointment. But it didn’t take long to realize that I have to take it one day at a time. We have a saying in the Army; What’s your next 50 meter target? You have to hit that first, and then move on” adds DeAnn.

So, when June finally comes, and she hears the words cancer free? “I can hardly wait to move on with my life…but of course we still have to take one day at a time.”

There are so many lessons learned in life when you deal with adversity. “My husband is (Eli) is a Rock Star! He just picks up the things that I can’t handle” says DeAnn. With 3 girls ages 15, 11 & 7, one can imagine that the Fylling home is pretty busy.
And then there is the lesson about receiving help from those around. “It’s hard to ask for and receive help” she says “but we are so grateful. Whether it’s helping out with meals, or laundry or a lot of other things, people are there” DeAnn adds “and I truly have learned to be grateful for what is right in front of me. Too many people, especially adults, tend to concentrate on next year, or even the next 5 years.”

The breast cancer battle for DeAnn Fylling started with her diagnosis on February 16th, 2023. A month later, on March 18th, 2023, her treatments started.
Once again, we can all learn from DeAnn Fylling, and all of those who battle cancer. Their focus is and has to be The Next 50 Meters.

View our full Tribute to Service: https://www.nordaknorth.com/newspapers/northernsentry/online-issues/tribute-to-veterans-2024/