Louisiana Woman Beats Cancer, Scores Trip To Space

A Louisiana woman continues to beat the odds. After surviving a bout with pediatric bone cancer, 29-year-old Hayley Arceneaux will now get to live out many people's dream: going to space.

"This is the coolest thing to happen to me," she said.

Arceneaux, who grew up outside of Baton Rouge, was 10 years old when she was diagnosed with bone cancer, and at the time, she thought it was a death sentence, WWL-TV reports. She said it wasn't until she went to St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis that she felt hope. She spent a year at the hospital undergoing treatment and surgeries, eventually overcoming the disease.

Her time at the hospital made a lasting impression, and she grew up wanting to work at the same place that cared for her when she was a kid. Her dreams are now a reality because nearly 20 years after she stayed at St. Jude, she works there as a physician assistant.

St. Jude continues to change her life, as she received a call last month about a new mission, the news outlet reports. She was selected as a crew member for the world's first all-civilian space mission, funded by billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman. The four-person crew will head to space later this year to raise awareness and funds for St. Jude. After the mission, Arceneaux will be the youngest American to have gone to space.

"Honestly, what I'm most excited about is being the first pediatric cancer survivor in space, like out of all these first," she said. "That new precedent it's going to set and what it's going to show these kids, what they're capable of."

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