St. John’s Children’s Research Hospital Jude announced Monday that former bone cancer patient and survivor Hayley Arceneaux will join billionaire Jared Isaacman on SpaceX’s first all-civilian flight later this year. At 29, Arceneaux will become the youngest American and the first person with a body prosthesis to go into space.
“My battle with cancer really prepared me for space travel,” Arceneaux, who now works as a medical assistant at St. Louis, told the Associated Press. Jude. “It made it hard for me and besides, I think it really taught me to look forward to the unexpected and to continue the journey.”
Growing up in Louisiana, Arceneaux had his first dreams of becoming an astronaut when his family traveled to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston when he was 9 years old. Shortly after that visit, he received life-changing news when he was diagnosed with bone cancer at age 10. As part of her treatment, Arceneaux had to be operated on in St. Louis. Jude to replace his knee and get a metal wand to his left thigh bone.
“When I was going through treatment I told myself over and over again that God had a plan,” he said in a recent St. Jude. Now, almost twenty years later, Arceneaux’s next trip into space seems like a full-circle moment. “I am so grateful for his faithfulness and my wild journey.”
The 29-year-old was chosen as one of four people to join Isaacman, a pilot and founder of payment processing company Shift4 Payments, on his charity mission titled Inspiration4. Isaacman announced the mission earlier this year, with a commitment to raise $ 200 million for St. Jude to help fight childhood cancer. The 38-year-old businessman, who has a net worth of $ 2.3 billion, according to Forbes, has already pledged $ 100 million of his own to the cause.
In a tweet Monday, Isaacman said he was excited for Arceneaux to join the space and knows it will be an “inspiration for people around the world.”
In addition to Arceneaux, the other seats on Isaacman’s mission will be occupied by a selected winner of a raffle contest that raises money for St. Jude and by a businessman 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 departure is scheduled for October at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, with a trip duration of two to four days, according to AP. Isaacman, who bought Elon Musk’s rocket launch at SpaceX for an undisclosed amount, says he believes this mission “is the first step toward a world where everyone can venture among the stars.”
“I know the money raised and awareness of this mission will change lives …,” said Arceneaux, who will serve as the crew’s medical officer. “And for both me and a former patient and now as an employee, it means so much that we will be able to help so many more children because of this mission.”
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