Our partner · Young adult cancer community · English and Spanish
The Fourth SpaYce
A place online for young adults facing cancer: vetted resources, community and each other, in English and Spanish, free for everyone.
fourthspayce.org
The site switching to Spanish, the resource library and the quick guides. Screen recording of fourthspayce.org, October 2026
For young adults with cancer, by young adults with cancer.1
Why a fourth space
Home is the first space. Work or school is the second. The third is where we meet everyone else: a café, a team, a club, the place where community actually happens.1
For a young adult with cancer, that third space often disappears. The Fourth SpaYce was built to take its place, so that navigating cancer as a young adult feels a little less overwhelming.1
85,48085,480adolescents and young adults, ages 15 to 39, expected to be diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. in 2025National Cancer Institute estimate, 20257
86%86%relative survival for young adults across all cancers combined: years of life to navigate after a diagnosisNational Cancer Institute, 20257
36.7%36.7%of young adult cancer survivors report material financial hardship, against 27.7% of adults without a cancer historyNational Health Interview Survey 2010 to 2018, published 20218
Founded by a survivor
NM
Natalia Menéndez
Founder · Blood cancer survivor
Natalia was diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma a month before her 23rd birthday. Looking for help through treatment, she found herself overwhelmed, with no idea where to start, and started The Fourth SpaYce in 2023.2
She and a team of other young adult survivors review every resource on the site. Most of them they have experienced firsthand.2
She is a Community Outreach Volunteer for Blood Cancer United's Spanish Education Programs, and has told her story on podcasts, panels and stages.3
“The hardest part wasn't only the diagnosis. It was trying to find help with the least energy I had ever had.”2
Four pillars, one mission: no one fights alone
01
Advocacy
They share their stories, through speaking, panels and partnerships, to raise awareness of what young adults with cancer face.1
02
Connect
They connect young adults in every country to people who get it, wherever they are.1
03
Navigate
They find it, read it and sort it, so a young adult can skip straight to what helps.1
04
One library
Financial aid, support groups, free experiences and connections to major organizations, in one place. Each resource carries a spaYce tip on why it is recommended.4
05
Quick Guides
Short, honest, no-jargon guides for each phase of young adult cancer, written by the people who lived them. The first is out; more arrive through fall 2026.5
06
#WhatDoYouFight4
A call to action and to advocacy: young adults share what they fight for, and the community grows real, not curated.6
What they have built so far
$90,000+$90,000+raised for indolent lymphoma research through Blood Cancer United's Visionaries of the Year2024 campaign, as published on fourthspayce.org2
66world regions their resource library covers, from Latin America to the Middle East, plus resources onlineThe library's own region filters4
22languages on every page and in the assistant, with Spanish-language resources prioritizedTheir stated practice, published on fourthspayce.org3
FreeFreefor everyone, always: no paywall, no tiers, nothing to sign up forTheir commitment, published on fourthspayce.org3
The Fourth SpaYce is built on judgment we could never supply: young adults who lived it, deciding what is worth another young adult's limited energy. Our part is to make that judgment easy to reach.
We built their home online with them, in English and Spanish on every page, calm to use on the hardest days: the site, the resource library, the quick guides and Ask F4, the assistant that matches people to resources. Every word of guidance on it is theirs.
AI that knows its limits
Ask F4 draws only from resources their team has personally reviewed. It does not search the open web, does not make things up and gives no medical advice, and when it cannot find a vetted match, it says so instead of guessing. That is the standard we hold every assistant to.
Every fact on this page is numbered to where it was published. Figures are the organization's own unless marked otherwise; paid placements are labelled as such.
