Childhood cancer survivor given trip to space
(SOUNDBITE) (English) HAYLEY ARCENEAUX: "So, I'm going to space!"
Hayley Arceneaux is 29, a cancer survivor, and now she could become the youngest person ever to fly into space.
"Getting this call to go to space came out of completely nowhere. I think that's the beauty of life, that sometimes it surprises you."
The opportunity has come her way through her workplace – St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
It was where she was treated as a child battling bone cancer.
"So when I was 10 years old, I was working my way towards my black belt, and I had actually just gotten my black belt in Tae Kwon Do before I was diagnosed with cancer, but I started having knee pain. And the thought it was from overuse from the Tae Kwon Do but then I started limping. And my mom noticed a big knot above my left knee. She took me to the doctor who did an x-ray and I'll never forget she, she came in the room with me and my parents and just said, 'This is bone cancer."
"I spent a year at St. Jude undergoing intense chemo and then also surgery to save my leg. And as difficult as that year was physically, it it was the most meaningful year of my life"
Arceneaux now works at St. Jude as a physician assistant.
She was chosen by the hospital and billionaire philanthropist Jared Isaacman
to fly on the private Inspiration4 SpaceX mission later in 2021.
It will be the first space flight without an astronaut aboard.
But before lift-off there’s training to be done.
"It'll start with the centrifuge training, like going around really fast to feel all the G-forces. And then we're going to prepare for any possible situation. We're going to spend a lot of time in the Dragon simulator and then I'll get some additional preparation as I'm the medical officer of this flight."
Unlike the NASA and SpaceX flights that go to the International Space Station, this one will travel around Earth for several days, during which time Arceneaux said she expects to participate in science experiments…
and also make time to video call kids at the hospital.
"I really hope to inspire these kids by going on this mission to dream big, that they can do anything. I was talking to this little girl yesterday and she was saying that she's upset that she can't run or jump. And I said, "You know, I can't run or jump either because I have a prosthesis in my leg but that's not stopping me from going to space.' This mission is opening up space travel to anyone and I think that in itself is going to motivate people and give them so much hope."
"Kids are so visual and I hope that them being able to see me in space really shows them what their future can look like. I'm the first St. Jude patient to go to space, the first pediatric cancer survivor, but I know I'm not going to be the last."
