BUFFALO, N.Y. — Take time away from your phone, laptop or tablet and just enjoy the moment. That’s the core message of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center’s 60-second regional television commercial, “Celebrate Life,” which will air in the Buffalo region during the Super Bowl on Sunday. This is the fifth year the center has produced a Super Bowl spot for the local market.

Roswell Park’s 2020 Super Bowl commercial asks people to “Stop, look around, take in the moment.”

In a world where we are consumed with everything digital, we often lose sight of what’s most important. “What if, just for a minute,” the narrator asks, “we unplug and start living life in the now?” It’s a sentiment expressed by many of Roswell Park’s patients, families, and friends — a reminder to live in the now, to embrace life, to be in touch with our emotions.

The commercial, completely produced in-house by Roswell Park’s Department of Marketing, highlights several of our cancer survivors through their individual journeys. Pediatric patient Andre, known to the local community as “Andre the Warrior,” makes a new friend with one of the hospital’s therapy dogs while breast and thyroid cancer survivor Kristy “dances a little longer” while celebrating her lifelong love of dance and music.

So many of our patients are living longer and stronger lives after cancer thanks to advances in treatment, including breakthroughs discovered by Roswell Park researchers. They celebrate the milestones of this survivorship by ringing the Victory Bell in the Roswell Park lobby. “Celebrate Life” is an extension of that spirit of celebration, of the importance of appreciating every moment as a gift.

“Each vignette shows a unique story, another example of the joyful moments we might miss if we’re too plugged in and not paying attention,” says Roswell Park President and CEO Candace S. Johnson, PhD. “We hope each of these stories strikes a chord with viewers, as each one has been inspired by moments our patients have shared with us.”