Cancer Survivor Hayley Arceneaux Will Be The Youngest American In Space
When she was 10 years old, Hayley Arceneaux was a cancer patient at St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Today, the 29-year-old is a physician assistant at the hospital. Later this year, she will be orbiting the earth as both the youngest American and the first person with a prosthetic body part to go to space.
Earlier this year, 38-year-old billionaire Jared Isaacman announced that he had purchased a Dragon spacecraft from Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. Wanting the mission to be for more than the elite, Isaacman offered two of the four all-civilian seats on the SpaceX rocket to St. Jude. One is for the winner of a sweepstakes (the proceeds of which will go to the hospital). The other, the philanthropist maintained, would be for a St. Jude worker who shines as a beacon of hope. Hayley Arceneaux was the perfect pick.