Giving Back

Jimmy V Week launches with new ‘Your Fight Is Our Fight’ campaign

The Your Fight Is Our Fight campaign created by ESPN’s Creative Content Unit tells the story of cancer from the patients and caregivers' perspective.
The Your Fight Is Our Fight campaign created by ESPN’s Creative Content Unit tells the story of cancer from the patients and caregivers’ perspective.
Jimmy V Week Programming Highlights

• Tonight, a simulcast of former NC State coach Jim Valvano’s 1993 ESPYS speech, airing simultaneously across ESPN networks

• The 6 p.m. ET edition of SportsCenter on Sunday, Dec. 6, will air Stuart Scott’s ESPYS speech in its entirety

• Presentation of the Jimmy V Men’s and Women’s Basketball Classics

• Integration in Monday Night Football, NBA on ESPN, MLS Cup and college sports programming

• The Empire State Building will be illuminated in blue in celebration of V Week on Monday, Dec. 7

Read more about Jimmy V Week by visiting ESPN MediaZone.

Cancer is scary. Cancer is numbing. But the people who fight it are inspiring, uplifting and empowering.

All of those emotions are on display in the new campaign dubbed “Your Fight Is Our Fight” for the launch of the ninth annual Jimmy V Week, which helps raise funds for The V Foundation for Cancer Research. Last year, Jimmy V Week raised a record $2.23 million, bringing the eight-year total of contributions to more than $10.5 million.

Approximately 14 million people in the world are diagnosed with cancer each year. From the moment they hear the unfathomable news, they begin seeking comfort. For some, that comfort comes from a simple video recording on their phone, documenting their journey through the unknown. Through every cancer treatment phase these patients are recording their illness as if they were writing a journal. It’s captivating, inspiring and real.

The “Your Fight Is Our Fight” campaign, created by ESPN’s Creative Content Unit (CCU) and the Post Group, tells the story of cancer from the patients and caregivers perspective. The vignettes show the emotion of patients and their loved ones that comes from a cancer diagnosis, going through radiation/chemo and finally being in remission.

CCU Producers Staci Green and Kathryn Davidson, and several Post Editors, created a new look for Jim Valvano’s 1993 ESPYS speech airing tonight at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN networks, as well as the vignettes and PSAs airing across ESPN platforms throughout Jimmy V week.

Front Row sat down with Green and Davidson, to learn more about this year’s plans.

How did you come up with the concept?
Green: Taking direction from Corporate Citizenship, the concept was an evolution from last year’s campaign. We were so inspired by one patient’s cancer diary that we were left wanting more. We used that inspiration to fuel this creative. There are so many video diaries with the most raw and real emotion, revealing what it is like to battle cancer. These brave people are sharing their stories at every step and documenting their fight.

How did you find the videos?
Davidson: We searched endlessly on various social media platforms. It is amazing how many people take to social media to document their journey battling this very real disease.

What have you learned working on this campaign?
Green: We learned a few things. First, that cancer really does touch us all. Second, how open people are to sharing their story and wanting to share their story in one of the darkest moments of their lives. These patients feel that by sharing their story it will inspire countless others and it truly does. All these stories left us feeling as if we need to do something about this dreaded disease.

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