St. Jude Physician Assistant set to be youngest American in Space (personal note)

[Darrell KSR]

29-year old P.A. at St. Jude's Children's Hospital, Hayley Arceneaux, is set to be the youngest American ever in space when she gets one of the four SpaceX Dragon capsule seats. Hayley is a very special young lady, who beat bone cancer as a 10-year old child and returned to give back to helping other children going through the same thing as she did, being hired by St. Jude Hospital where she received the treatment that saved her life.

I had the AP article, but found a local (Louisiana, where she's from) article with a lot more information about this outstanding young lady.

https://www.livingstonparishnews.com...f49e4ce41.html

Hayley will also be the first person in space with a prosthesis. When she was 10, she had surgery at St. Judge to replace her knee and get a titanium rod in her left thigh bone. She will serve as the SpaceX medical officer.

The personal note--Hayley and my daughter Caitlin volunteered as counselors at Camp Horizon in Tennessee multiple years together, a terrific camp for children going through cancer treatment. It's a place where they can experience a week of normalcy, despite all they are going through. The volunteer camp counselors donate a week of their time helping these kids, and of course, their experience in working with pediatric cancer patients is invaluable during that week. My daughter described her first week there as "the best week of my life," and returned multiple times.

If you ever have any spare dollars to contribute, Camp Horizon is a 501(c)(3) organization--the cancer kids pay nothing to attend the camp (it costs an average of $1500 per child to attend in costs), and they exist on contributions and volunteers. Here is a YouTube video from 5 years ago this summer where I think you'll see Hayley and Caitlin just to show you a little of what it is like. (And I'm sorry for using this news to solicit for Camp Horizon, but I'm really not. It's a great place.)

But focus here should be on Hayley Arceneaux. She is one special lady.

[PedroDaGr8]

Wow that is really cool news! She's definitely an inspiration.

[MickintheHam]

I have so much respect for all the folks working at St. Jude. This you g lady is one more example of the selfless people working there.