The Survivor Series is an outgrowth of our Survivor at Every Game initiative, which we debuted in November 2012 on CNN during a nationally-televised prime time special focusing on lung cancer and our National Campaign.  Leveraging our unique connections with the NFL, its teams and players, and many of the top cancer centers in the country, we arranged for lung cancer survivors to attend games at NFL stadiums across the country during the last two months of the 2012-2013 season.  The initiative proved to be an immediate and overwhelming success.  By the time this first “national celebration of survivorship” concluded at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, survivors from 30 different cancer centers and nearly every NFL team had participated.

Given the success of our inaugural Survivor at Every Stadium program, in its second year, we expanded the initiative to create the Survivor Series by branching out beyond the NFL to the NBA and NHL, among others.  We also enhanced the Survivor at Every Stadium initiative by adding the NFL’s International Series in London, specially designated lung cancer awareness games at home, and a national media tour, which resulted in more than 35 national and local media placements, reaching more than 13 million people.

The goal of the Survivor Series is not only to create a unique experience for participating survivors, but to raise awareness on a local and national level by using each game and each survivor’s story to weave a broader narrative about the state of lung cancer and the hope that now exists for those battling the disease thanks to new detection techniques and innovative treatments. Our Lung Cancer Survivors Super Bowl Challenge builds on the success of the Survivor Series by using the games at the heart of that initiative to create buzz for the Challenge. (https://vimeo.com/68178658)