Youngest American to go into space is also a cancer survivor

Medical assistant and cancer survivor Arceneaux hopes to inspire her patients to dream big and to not limit themselves. Photo: AFP

By the end of the year, Hayley Arceneaux will be the youngest American in space and one of the first tourists to enter orbit unaccompanied by professional astronauts.

It is a feat made all the more remarkable by her battle to overcome a childhood cancer that robbed the 29-year-old of her dream of becoming an astronaut herself.