Haley Arceneaux was 29 years old when she and three other civilians aboard the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft launched into space from Kennedy Space Center at Merrit Island, Florida on Sept. 16, 2021.
Arceneaux’s experiences as a patient and now health care provider at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee have led her as far away as space to tell everyone about her love of the mission of St. Jude and its patients and families.
The St. Joseph’s Academy in Baton Rouge alumnae returned to SJA on March 3 to speak about her journey toward the “Inspiration4” space mission to raise awareness and funds for St. Jude as detailed in her book, “Wild Ride: A Memoire of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships.”
Arceneaux, 31, a St. Francisville native, was 10 years old and preparing to earn her black belt in Taekwondo when she felt pain in the knee of her left leg. A lump above her knee turned out to be osteosarcoma, bone cancer.
“I didn’t know you could have cancer and survive, and that was the scariest moment of my life,” said Arceneaux.
Shortly after her diagnosis, Arceneaux and her family were headed to St. Jude. Arceneaux endured a year of chemotherapy and limb-sparing surgery in which most of her femur was removed and was replaced with a state-of-the-art prosthetic device that could expand as she grew.
Yet, in her suffering she found clarity of her mission in life.
“That was the most important year of my life and it gave me a purpose in life,” said Arceneaux.
After chemotherapy ended and she was declared cancer free and returned with her family to St. Francisville, Arceneaux vowed that she would return one day to St. Jude.
“I told anyone who would listen that I am going to come back and work and dance with these patients,” said Arceneaux.
To prepare for a medical career, Arceneaux begged her parents to send her to SJA, where she graduated in 2010.
“Here, girls are taught they can do anything,” said Arceneaux.
Then it was off to college. At Southeastern University in Hammond, Arceneaux majored in Spanish.
“I wanted to be able to communicate with (Spanish-speaking families as a health care provider) in their native language, to help them feel more comfortable,” said Arceneaux.
In 2016, she graduated from LSU Health Shreveport’s physician assistant program at the School of Allied Professionals.
Arceneaux applied for a PA position at St. Jude but she did not get an interview.
“That was disappointing, but I told myself I needed to get some experience,” said Arceneaux.
She worked in the emergency room at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge. When a PA position came open again at St. Jude, Arceneaux applied and was interviewed.
On her birthday, she checked the St. Jude website and found that her application status was changed to not selected.
“That was a huge blow. I spent the day ugly crying,” said Arceneaux. “But I knew that it was my dream, I knew that it was my purpose that I get back up after two times and not let myself get so discouraged. That would keep me from my dreams.”
Her third try yielded success and she landed her dream job and life was very good.
“I had just bought a home (after moving to Memphis), and sitting in my home I had a peace that my life couldn’t get any better,” said Arceneaux. “I had no idea what was in store just two weeks later.”
That’s when she received an email from St. Jude requesting to speak to her “about a unique opportunity.”
She called and learned she was being invited into space as an ambassador for St. Jude as part of the Inspiration4 spaceflight, the world’s first all-civilian mission. Inspiration4 was motivated in part by philanthropist and pilot Jared Isaacman’s effort to raise money for and awareness of St. Jude.
“I look down and my hands and my knees are shaking. My whole body is shaking. I cannot believe I have just been invited into outer space,” said Arceneaux.
Fear of the unknown didn’t deter her, and her family was supportive. But the daunting journey of training for space flight was still ahead for Arceneaux and her fellow crew members Isaacman, Chris Sembroski and Dr. Sian Proctor.
There were grueling academics as well as centrifugal training, in which those in training experience the same acceleration as what astronauts experience during acceleration in space flight.
The toughest part of training for Arceneaux was climbing Mount Rainier in Washington State. They endured bitter cold temperatures and swirling snow during the 9-hour ascent up the mountain.
Additionally, Arceneaux was concerned about making the climb with a prosthetic. They spent two nights in tents before descending back down the mountain.
“The whole way up there was not one easy moment, but I kept thinking about my patients that year,” Arceneaux said. “They are my inspiration and when I thought about how I would going to do the mountain climb, we also believed in the whole mission in space is for them. I thought we ask so much of them when they’re going through cancer treatment and they never complain.”
In addition to serving as the chief medical officer on Inspiration4, she made history in becoming the first person with a prosthesis, the first pediatric cancer survivor and the youngest American to ever go to space.
As she gazed at Earth from the space capsule Arceneaux said, “If you’re looking at the planet, you’re seeing land masses without borders, and it just feels very unifying.”
Zooming in closer to home, Arceneaux had her heart set on St. Jude. A highlight of the trip for her was talking to and answering questions from St. Jude students during the mission.
“The cutest one was, ‘Are your houses on the moon?’ ” Arceneaux smiled.
“I ended that call reminding them, if I can do this, you can do this,” Arceneaux told the students. “I wanted to show them that whatever dreams they had, that they can come true. And I want to remind all of you the same.”
Just as incredible as the experience flight was for Arceneaux was the fact that the mission raised more than $240,000,000 for St. Jude.
The presentation concluded with SJA students asking Arceneaux questions after which she signed copies of her book.