StoryCorps Chicago: ‘Our Version Of Normal, Whatever That Means’

By Bill Healy
Nathasha Spencer and Sara Knizhnik met in 1995. They came to StoryCorps Chicago to talk about the unusual way they met.
Nathasha Spencer and Sara Knizhnik met in 1995. They came to StoryCorps Chicago to talk about the unusual way they met. Courtesy of StoryCorps
Nathasha Spencer and Sara Knizhnik met in 1995. They came to StoryCorps Chicago to talk about the unusual way they met.
Nathasha Spencer and Sara Knizhnik met in 1995. They came to StoryCorps Chicago to talk about the unusual way they met. Courtesy of StoryCorps

StoryCorps Chicago: ‘Our Version Of Normal, Whatever That Means’

By Bill Healy

When longtime friends Sara Knizhnik and Natasha Spencer came to the StoryCorps booth at the Chicago Cultural Center, Knizhnik wanted to celebrate Spencer’s perseverance.

Spencer and Knizhnik met one night in 1995, when Spencer was robbed at gunpoint.

“The incredible thing is that the way we met — you getting attacked outside my front door — that’s not the worst thing that’s ever happened to you,” Knizhnik told her friend.

Spencer’s 6-year-old son Keenan has a rare genetic disease called Krabbe Leukodystrophy. She was told his life would be brief.

It’s hard, she says, but it’s just “our version of ‘normal,’ whatever that means.”

Bill Healy produces StoryCorps for WBEZ. Follow him @chicagoan.