St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital announced Monday that former bone cancer patient and survivor Hayley Arceneaux will be joining billionaire Jared Isaacman on the first fully civilian SpaceX flight later this year. At 29, Arceneaux becomes the youngest American and the first person with a prosthetic body part to go into space.
“My battle with cancer has really prepared me for space travel,” Arceneaux, who now works as a physician’s assistant in St. Jude, told The Associated Press. “It made me tough, and then I think it really taught me to expect the unexpected and go for the ride.”
Arceneaux grew up in Louisiana and first dreamed of becoming an astronaut when her family traveled to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston when she was 9 years old. Shortly after that visit, she received life-changing news when she was diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of 10. As part of her treatment, Arceneaux had to undergo surgery in St. Jude’s to replace her knee and insert a metal rod into her left thigh. .
“I told myself over and over as I went through treatment that God had a plan,” she said in a recent St. Jude interview. Now, almost 20 years later, Arceneaux’s imminent journey into space seems like a moment when the circle is complete. “I’m overwhelmingly grateful for his loyalty and my wild journey.”
The 29-year-old was chosen as one of four people to join Isaacman, pilot and founder of payment processing company Shift4 Payments, on his charity mission entitled Inspiration4. Isaacman announced the mission earlier this year, pledging to raise $ 200 million for St. Jude to help fight cancer in children. The 38-year-old entrepreneur, who has a net worth of $ 2.3 billion, according to Forbes, has already spent $ 100 million of his own money on the business.
In a tweet on Monday, Isaacman said he was excited to have Arceneaux join him in space and he knows she will be an “inspiration to people around the world.”
In addition to Arceneaux, the other places on Isaacman’s mission will be occupied by a winner selected from a sweepstakes contest raising money for St. Jude and an entrepreneur who wins a contest sponsored by Shift4 Payments. Isaacman is expected to announce who these individual winners are in March.
Right now, the mission’s launch is scheduled for October at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, with a journey of two to four days, AP reports. Isaacman, who bought the rocket launch of Elon Musk’s SpaceX for an undisclosed amount, says he believes this mission is “the first step to a world where anyone can venture among the stars.”
“I know that the money raised and the awareness of this mission will change lives…” said Arceneaux, who will serve as the crew’s medical officer. “And it means so much to me as a former patient and now as an employee to know that this mission enables us to help so many more children.”
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