The Child Who Turned Chemotherapy Into a Space Mission

Cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux (USA Today)

What therapeutic imagination can teach about fear, treatment, and the mind

 

Hayley Arceneaux was only ten years old when she found out she had bone cancer.

 

Think about being ten. At that age, your biggest concern should be school, friends, riding your bike, or figuring out what you want for your birthday.

Instead, Hayley was facing chemotherapy. She went through 12 rounds of it. She had major surgery. Part of her femur was replaced, along with her knee.

And then, years later, something happened that sounds almost impossible.

She went to space.

In 2021, Hayley became the medical officer aboard Inspiration4 and the first pediatric cancer survivor to travel into space.

I love that story because it reminds me of something I’ve seen repeatedly in healthcare:

What is happening to the body is only part of the experience. What is happening in the mind matters, too.

And that’s where hypnosis can become interesting.

What if the treatment room became something else?

Imagine you’re a child sitting in an infusion chair.

There’s tubing hanging beside you.

Machines are beeping.

People keep walking in and out.

Someone is talking about medications using words you’ve never heard before.

Everyone around you may know exactly what’s happening.

To the nurse, it’s an IV.

To the child, it may look scary.

So what happens if you use the child’s imagination instead of fighting against it?

Maybe the chair becomes the command seat of a spacecraft.

The IV tubing is the fuel line.

The monitor is Mission Control.

And breathing slowly becomes part of the countdown.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Now, did the chemotherapy suddenly disappear?

Of course not.

But something important may have changed.

The child has gone from feeling like something frightening is simply being done to them to feeling more involved in what is happening.

That’s one of the things I find fascinating about therapeutic imagination.

Kids are actually pretty good at this

Have you ever watched a child become completely absorbed in a game?

You can call their name three times.

Nothing.

They’re gone.

Not literally, obviously.

They’re just intensely focused.

That kind of focused attention is one reason children sometimes respond well to hypnosis and guided imagery.

Clinical hypnosis is about helping someone focus their attention in a purposeful way and use imagination, relaxation, and suggestion to change how they experience something.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has discussed the use of clinical hypnosis with pediatric cancer patients for concerns including pain, nausea, anxiety, and treatment-related distress.

Research in pediatric oncology has also found that hypnosis may help some children manage anxiety and discomfort during procedures such as needle sticks, lumbar punctures, and bone marrow procedures.

Does that mean hypnosis works perfectly for every child?  No.

It’s not magic.

It doesn’t replace chemotherapy.

It doesn’t replace medication, anesthesia, physicians, nurses, psychologists, or other appropriate treatment.

It is a tool.

Adults often do this in reverse

Here is an interesting thing.

Adults use imagination all the time.

You just don’t call it imagination.

You call it worrying.

You have a procedure next Tuesday, and by Sunday night you’ve already mentally experienced every possible thing that could go wrong.

This is going to hurt.

I’m going to panic.

I won’t be able to handle the MRI.

I’m going to get sick during treatment.

And your body is listening to every bit of that rehearsal.

Your heart rate changes.

Your breathing changes.

Your muscles tighten.

Your stomach may start reacting before you’ve even walked into the building.

The event hasn’t happened yet.

But your nervous system has already started practicing for it.

That’s one area where hypnosis can help.

Instead of rehearsing panic, we can practice calm.

Instead of repeatedly imagining losing control, we can rehearse feeling steady.

Instead of picturing only what might go wrong, we can mentally practice moving through the experience one step at a time.

This is giving your mind another possibility to work with.

Back to that ten-year-old girl

Hayley Arceneaux once sat in a treatment chair receiving chemotherapy.

Years later, she looked down at Earth from a spacecraft.

That’s quite a change in scenery.

Her story does not prove that positive thinking cures illness.

It is a reminder not to assume that the frightening chapter we’re living through today gets to write the rest of our story.

Sometimes the room cannot change.

The treatment still has to happen.

The procedure may still be uncomfortable.

The diagnosis may still be difficult.

But you may be able to change some of what happens inside you as you go.

That’s where hypnosis may have something to offer.

At Medvesta Hypnosis Healthcare, we work with people who want to explore hypnosis as a complementary approach for anxiety, stress, pain, medical procedures, fears, habits, and other mind-body concerns.

We begin with an assessment and learn what you’re experiencing and what you want to change. We determine whether hypnosis makes sense as part of your care.

You may be surprised by what can happen when you teach your mind a different way to experience the journey.

Schedule a screening or assessment with Medvesta Hypnosis Healthcare to find out whether hypnosis may be appropriate for you.