Generosity - Gifts to Improve Women's Health
Sue McCollum's Story

Profits from the sale of Sue McCollum’s My Blue Dot ornaments help fund mammogram scholarships through St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation. Pictured from left are Sue; Hilary Furlong, St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation executive director; and Chris Peck, St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Imaging manager.

If I had just one gift to give
What would that gift be?
My gift would be of hope and
  health
Of a world that is cancer free.
—Sue McCollum, Cancer Free

“Life is not all about me, it’s about giving something back,” says Sun Valley part-time resident Sue McCollum. “I consider Sun Valley my home and I want to give back to
St. Luke’s and my community.”

Sue, a newspaper and magazine columnist who has also written several books—the last two about Sun Valley—is an active supporter of St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation. In particular, she supports the Foundation’s work to build and equip a new, fully-digital Women’s Imaging Center.

She is just one of the many people who gave to St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation in 2008. Of the more than $2.1 million donated, $1 million was designated specifically to build and equip the Women’s Imaging Center.

While enduring her own battle with breast cancer, Sue’s mission became clear – to support and honor those who have undergone, or who are currently undergoing, treatments to fight cancer.

She founded My Blue Dots, a non-profit organization that supports those who have, or have had, cancer, and also supports cancer research and cancer programs. Sue raises money through private donations and profits from her book sales, as well as by selling beautiful one-of-a-kind ornaments made of hand blown clear glass with cobalt blue dots. The ornaments were inspired by the tattooed blue dots people receive before radiation treatment that serve as markers for the radiation beams. Sue’s idea of transforming a symbol of fear into a symbol of hope was the catalyst that ignited her vision of a world free of cancer.

Sue’s passion to end breast cancer inspired St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation to improve health care for women by funding the Women’s Imaging Center. Fully funded by philanthropy, the Women’s Imaging Center will expand the hospital’s services to include state-of-the-art full-field digital mammography, the latest in breast screening and diagnostic technology. Digital mammography is significantly more effective at detecting breast cancers than standard mammography for some women, and shows great promise in the fight against breast cancer.

Gifts to support the Women’s Imaging Center will also expand the availability of affordable mammograms, which aligns with Sue’s work, for she knows that early detection is very important when dealing with cancer.

“The Women’s Imaging Center and My Blue Dots will be a great fit,” she says. “My Blue Dots are a symbol of courage, and I hope my work will continue to help the people in the Sun Valley area.”

Profits from the sale of the ornaments and her books, along with private donations, have helped provide nearly 50 mammograms for uninsured or underinsured women in the Wood River Valley. They have also funded cancer research at Stanford University Medical School and ongoing cancer programs at Stanford Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Sue’s Blue Dots are available at St. Luke’s Wood River, in selected stores in Sun Valley and Ketchum, and online at www.mybluedots.org.