My Blue Dots Story

How it All Began…

When those dreaded words “Yes Sue, it is cancer’ she was in shock and disbelief. Thus, as a writer, she wrote about this experience and in her first book. Moving On (before and after cancer). It is a journal of her journey through her cancer experience. It is written, and recorded in rhyme, and is a personal account of the fears, the thoughts, and anxieties that many cancer patients encounter during their cancer experience. She also writes about My Blue Dots. These blue dots are the tattoos that were placed on her body to serve as markers for the radiation beams during the treatments.

When she finished these treatments she wondered what she could do? How could she put a period at the end of this chapter in her life? How can she honor others who have also gone through this experience? For a period of eight weeks she had to go to the hospital every day for treatments. Every day she saw the same faces, talked with the same people, and saw the toil this procedure took on so many. She wondered, what could she do at the end of this ordeal to say, “I honor you and what you have been through?”

It has been twenty years since My Blue Dots was established. Because of your belief in our mission of mixing art with science we have been able to accomplish many innovative and meaningful things that have blessed and will continue to bless many in the years to come. Those accomplishments are at the end of this email for you to enjoy. Your support has been and will continue to impact those going through a cancer experience as well as the research we have funded.

After twenty years I am stepping aside and Dr. Albert Koong and his family are looking forward to continuing the mission of My Blue Dots. Our history with Dr Koong dates back more than twenty years. When the My Blue Dot Research Fund was established at Stanford Dr. Koong was the first to receive the money from that fund to establish his laboratory. In those early years, support from the My Blue Dot Research Fund was critical for him to launch his research program.  Since then, he has received more than $10M in grant funding and published more than 250 articles in peer-reviewed journals.  

He initially joined the faculty at Stanford in 2001 and rose through the ranks to Professor and Associate Chair for the Department of Radiation Oncology.  In 2017, he was recruited to MD Anderson Cancer Center.  He currently serves as the Chair and Division Head of Radiation Oncology and holds an endowed Distinguished University Chair for Cancer Research at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

I want to thank you for your past support and introduce you to Dr. Albert Koong and let him tell you about the future vision of My Blue Dots.

How the Vision will Continue

I would like to thank the McCollum Family, particularly Sue and Bob McCollum, for supporting my research program over the last 2 decades.  The erosion of national funding for cancer research has resulted in increasing difficulty in attracting the most outstanding scientific minds to pursue research careers.  Without the early support from My Blue Dots, my career would have taken a different trajectory and I would not have had the same opportunities to make scientific and clinical advancements in cancer therapy.

It is critical that we continue to support young investigators at the earliest stage in their careers when they are establishing themselves in an increasingly more competitive research field.  It is only through basic, translational, and clinical research that we can hope to make meaningful advancements in cancer therapy.  The impact of funding investigators at this stage can be transformative as these scientists make discoveries throughout their career and bring other young scientists into the field.  In my own career, I have mentored more than 100 other trainees and junior faculty during an early phase in their career when it is especially challenging to establish their research credibility.  Support from My Blue Dots is essential to continue this pipeline of cancer researchers.

In addition, maintaining a connection with the patients that we serve is another core component for My Blue Dots.  This connection facilitates a meaningful understanding of a patient’s journey throughout the cancer care continuum and ensures that scientists focus on advancements that are most relevant to the health of our cancer patients.  A holistic approach such as this is fundamental to our vision.

In summary, we will continue the work already begun by Sue and Bob McCollum and are grateful to the entire McCollum Family for their support.  My Blue Dots will continue to focus on 2 major areas:

1. Support promising researchers at the earliest stage of their careers to help them establish impactful research programs.
2. Support the cancer patient journey to facilitate a continuous research focus on the issues most relevant to patients.

Thank you for your engagement and support of My Blue Dots.  I am forever grateful for the positive impact that this organization has had on my career and hope give back as much as I have received.