Taylor Swift wasn’t the only rock(et) star we saw in Rio
The young woman you see in the center of the picture above is Hayley Arceneaux. Hayley is a cancer survivor and a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Oh … and she also happens to be an astronaut and the youngest American to ever orbit planet Earth!
There’s no other person on this planet that both my kids hold in such high inspirational regard as Hayley … for completely different reasons. Sabina finds strength in Hayley’s cancer story, while Charlie, who fancies himself a space nerd, is in awe of Hayley’s space exploits.
If you want to learn more about Hayley, check out her book: “Wild Ride: A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships” It is out of this world.
My family first crossed paths with Hayley in 2021. Sabina was diagnosed with osteosarcoma on September 9. One week later, Hayley blasted off aboard SpaceX’s first private spaceflight: Inspiration4. My family was still in the thick of the fog that descends after diagnosis, but news about Hayley’s trip to space cut through that fog because her life journey includes an osteosarcoma diagnosis at a young age. At the tender age of 10, Hayley had endured the same chemotherapy treatment and resection surgery Sabina was facing.
As Sabina’s surgery approached, she grew increasingly nervous. Her surgeon was going to replace half of her femur and all of her knee with titanium, so she was anxious about how her life would be different the moment she woke up in post-op. Sure, her surgeon could tell her what he would do … but that’s not the same as talking to someone who has been through it. That’s when my wife Kate went to work.
Kate has collaborated with the venerable journalist Miles O’Brien on multiple projects. They’ve been through some crazy situations together, including enduring 3 weeks in locked-down, dystopian Seattle during the very early days of the COVID 19 pandemic. Miles has many friends and professional contacts in the space industry, so Kate asked him to leverage his network with the hope of possibly connecting Sabina and Hayley. Sabina needed a pep talk and Hayley had literally ‘walked the walk’ that Sabina was now facing.
In Miles’ typical, straight-to-the-point demeanor, I believe his response to Kate’s request was as follows: “I’m on it.”
Next thing you know, it’s two weeks before Sabina’s surgery and I am in her hospital room setting up a Zoom call between her and Hayley. Miles had delivered.
That call was only supposed to last 30 minutes, but Hayley was so gracious with her time. She ended up answering all the questions Sabina could throw at her, so the call eventually stretched to almost an hour.
Sabina’s state of mind about the surgery completely changed after that Zoom call. Hayley had instilled in Sabina a new level of confidence. Since then, Sabina and Hayley have remained friends via email and social media.
How we connected in Rio
About a week before we departed for Rio, Kate noticed Hayley had posted on social media that she was heading to Brazil. Kate guessed Hayley might be headed to Brazil to see Taylor Swift, so she messaged her to ask. Yep.
In one of those amazing ‘small world’ coincidences, it turned out Hayley was staying just a few blocks from our Airbnb, so Kate and Hayley quickly hatched a plan to link up. We eventually met up with Hayley and some of her colleagues from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. They couldn’t have been cooler. I know all the people who work at St. Jude are special, but this crew of young professionals was next-level impressive. Plus, they were Swifties!
As soon as we met up, Sabina and Hayley quickly launched into a conversation about the experience Hayley and her friends had at the previous night’s Taylor Swift concert. They also talked for a while about Sabina’s cancer scanxiety. When the chat turned to other tourist spots to check out in Rio, Charlie had had enough. There were serious matters that still needed to be discussed! He waited for a brief pause in the conversation and then asked for the attention of the table. In a rather serious and scientific tone, he then said, “OK, let’s cut to the chase: What’s it like in space???”
The entire table laughed and Hayley proceeded to share all the details of her incredible space journey. By the end of our meet up, both my kids were beaming from the time they’d spent with Hayley.
There are people on this planet for whom the world seems to have ‘bigger plans.’ Hayley Arceneaux is one of those people. She was already an inspiration before she ever lifted off into space aboard Inspiration4. My family can’t wait to see where Hayley’s ‘wild ride’ of a life takes her next.
Note: If you’ve just stumbled on this post and want to learn more about my family’s trip to Rio to see Taylor Swift, you can read about our special motivation to go on the trip, a full recap of our magical week and an update about how our lives changed shortly after we returned.
Sean McMahon is the Director of Content at SmartBrief. He is also the editor of the While You Were Working newsletter.
