Meet the youngest American to go to space

Brut America

At 10, she was diagnosed with bone cancer.  But Hayley Arceneaux just became the youngest American to go to space in a historic all-civilian mission ...

Transcript

00:00My disease is called osteosarcoma, and it's a bone cancer.

00:05It's very serious.

00:16My mom was shocked when she found out.

00:18And I was still in shock when I called to tell her the news.

00:21I said, you're not going to believe this, but it's true.

00:23I just got asked to go to space.

00:31I was a healthy 10-year-old before this diagnosis, and I was really active.

00:36I actually had just gotten my black belt in taekwondo.

00:39And I was having knee pain.

00:41They thought it was from the taekwondo, but the pain started getting worse,

00:44and I started limping.

00:46The doctor took an X-ray, and she came in the room with my parents and said,

00:50this is bone cancer.

00:52And we all just burst into tears.

00:55And I just kept saying over and over, I don't want to die.

00:57I don't want to die.

00:58I don't want to die.

00:59I'm trying to lift my leg like my right leg, but I can't do that yet

01:06because my muscle isn't strong enough.

01:09I spent a year undergoing intense chemo and also had surgery that saved my leg

01:14and ultimately saved my life.

01:16I look back, and I think of the good memories.

01:18I was pulling pranks on my doctors and nurses.

01:21I was throwing dance parties and made everyone in the hospital

01:24come watch me and my friend dance.

01:26At the end of my treatment, when my doctor told me I was cancer-free

01:29and I could go home, I cried because I didn't want to leave.

01:57Immediately I said yes, just recognizing how once-in-a-lifetime this opportunity was

02:05and what an incredible fundraiser it would be for St. Jude.

02:08I actually went to NASA the summer before I was diagnosed with cancer.

02:11I mean, every kid looks at that and wants to be an astronaut.

02:14Who doesn't?

02:26[♪ music ♪

02:38What's so exciting about it is we're the first all-civilian mission to space

02:43and just knowing that there's going to be so many that come after us.

02:47Being the first person with a prosthetic body part is really going to help

02:51open space travel to so many more people

02:54because until this mission, you really had to be physically perfect to go to space.

02:57But this mission is changing things, and I'm personally really excited to be part of that.

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