If, out of the blue, you got a call from your employer asking if you wanted to go to space, would you say that’s out of your job description? Would you ask for a couple days to sleep on it? Well, for physician assistant Hayley Arceneaux, who got that call from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the answer was clear and immediate: Yes.
The mission Arceneaux would be a part of — SpaceX’s Inspiration4 — launched almost a year ago on September 15th as the first all-civilian space mission and raised more than $200 million for St. Jude, a cause near and dear to Arceneaux’s heart ever since she was diagnosed with bone cancer at 10 years old. In fact, when she wasn’t even finished with her cancer treatment, Arceneaux began raising money for the hospital and embarked on what would become a lifelong journey in support of St. Jude. By 2020, she began her dream job working with pediatric oncology patients.
“I knew I really wanted to work at St. Jude and help support these kids with cancer treatment and help make their experience something positive, and then also show them what their future can look like after cancer,” Arceneaux says. So when, not even a full year into her job, the hospital asked her about going to space, she couldn’t say no to the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “I wanted to show these kids that anything is possible.”
Arceneaux would become the youngest American who has been in orbit, as well as the first pediatric cancer survivor and the first person with a prosthetic body part to go to space. Her story would become an inspiration. “Around the time when I was training I was really touched by people who were reaching out, especially on social media, telling me that my story inspired them to get through hard times and take on big challenges,” she says. “Then I was approached by people who wanted me to share my story in book form.”
Once again, Arceneaux said yes, with the hope of reaching children with cancer, girls and women interested in STEM, and anyone needing a bit of hope. “I think writing it really renewed how much gratitude I feel,” she says. “Like, wow, I’m just so fortunate to survive my cancer, have my dream job, have the opportunity to go to space. … The main thing I want people to get out of it, is the importance of hope when you’re going through something hard.”
Her memoir, Wild Ride: A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships, covers her childhood, her diagnosis, getting her dream job, the loss of her father, and, of course, her journey to space. “The most challenging part of writing for me was describing what it was like to look at the Earth,” she says. When she first got back from space, only one word came to mind when asked that question: pretty. Now, she has written pages upon pages describing what she meant by “pretty.”
To celebrate the memoir’s launch, Arceneaux will do a Q&A at Novel, followed by a book-signing. Line tickets are required to meet the author and are free with a purchase of the book.
Meet The Author: Hayley Arceneaux, Novel, Saturday, September 10, 5 p.m.
