Roswell Park Cancer Institute Produces Hip Hop Song and Video to Raise Cancer Awareness Among Generation Y
The nation’s first cancer center has created a new hip hop song and video to show young people they can help build a world without cancer. “How Big Is Your Heart,” an MTV-like commercial, features nurses and cancer patients dancing alongside professional dancers through the halls of Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
The song, written and recorded by record producer Jeremy “Cochise” Ball, conveys the message that no gift is too small - anyone can make a difference in the fight against cancer. Ball has worked with numerous award-winning artists including Notorious B.I.G. and Akon.
Roswell Park also partnered with nationally known dance choreographer Darlene Ceglia, formerly a dancer on broadway, to create the dance moves for the “How Big Is Your Heart” commercial. Shot in the hospital’s halls and lobby, the video features cancer survivors, patients and Roswell Park Cancer Institute medical professionals dancing alongside nationally award-winning dancers, many of whom have a personal connection to cancer.
The hip hop music approach is part of a unique, ongoing effort to reach out to Generation Y through a revolutionary campaign called YRoswell. Roswell Park Cancer Institute launched the campaign in 2007 with YRoswell.com, an interactive website targeted to G
en-Y.
The YRoswell site is designed to meet three primary goals: education to attract students to careers in cancer medicine and research; support for students coping with cancer themselves, in their family or in their social group; and volunteerism to engage a new generation of volunteers.
To date, young volunteers and donors have helped raise nearly $1 million for cancer patients and research at Roswell Park.
The “How Big Is Your Heart” commercial premieres at the KISSmas Bash concert on December 6, 2009 in Buffalo, and will air on area TV stations and at YRoswell.com. |
