BUFFALO (WBEN - Brendan Keany) - Roswell Park unveiled the powerful commercial that will run regionally during the Super Bowl.
"We're demonstrating the strength of our cancer patients, the resilience of what they go through, the spirit of hope that they have," said Roswell Park president and CEO, Candace Johnson. "These are all cancer patients, they're not actors. These are people that are really going through their struggle right now, and I think that you can feel it - the emotion is there."
Executive Director of the Creative Team, Ben Richey, says they weren't turned down by any of the people they asked to participate.
"I think the best comment we got from a patient watching it was that it was a big hug," said Richey. "They felt it was encompassing of what Roswell has done for them, and it shows the support and the care that was here."
Richey then shared a story about the woman in the commercial who was shown cutting her hair.
"She had shaved her head several years ago in honor of her sister who has lost her life with cancer, and then a few years later, she was diagnosed with cancer," he began. "The stories behind some of these people in this spot are just incredible. To ask a 24-year-old woman, who had hair down to her waist, to shave her head and make that statement, was a tough ask, and she responded immediately with, 'Yeah, I'll do that.'"
Johnson then discussed the response that Roswell has received from their ads.
"I think the response to the Roswell community has been hugely, hugely positive to these spots," said Johnson. "When we first started them, they were a little more tongue and cheek, kind of lighthearted, if you will - always with the undertone of Roswell Park - what we are, what we're doing here, what we stand for. But, I think if you look at our spots over the four years, we've really evolved, and I think this year we really wanted to do something special."
She then explained the shift in tone from the beginning of the ads to this most recent one.
"When you have cancer, it's serious," she said. "You walk through the doors of this place with a diagnosis of cancer and you're scared, and you don't know how you're going to go through this, you're family is there with you, and so sometimes, you can get the message across about who we are and what we can do for you with a little more lighthearted approach. But I think, and let's be real here, this is a serious situation when you have cancer."