A woman adopts an abandoned girl, she becomes one of the best athletes in the world years later

Oksana Masters went from a harrowing childhood in a Ukrainian orphanage to a famous American Paralympic athlete, thanks to her mother’s unwavering decision to adopt her and bring her home. Now, every competition she enters is a love letter to her mother, hoping to make her proud.

Oksana Masters remembers spending most of her early childhood in Ukraine, having vivid memories of the vast fields of sunflowers that she would liken to tall trees. These fields seemed so big to her, simply because she was quite small.

At the age of seven, Oksana was only 0.9 meters tall and weighed 15 kg. She was malnourished, but that wasn’t the only reason she was small for her age.

Oksana was born in 1989, just three years after the Chernobyl disaster struck 200 miles from where she and her family lived. She suffered from several bodily deformities, likely due to radiation poisoning from the disaster, which affected her way of life and the way her family interacted with her.

Oksana was missing the main supporting bone in both of her legs, and her left leg was missing part of her knee. Oksana had six toes, webbed hands and a single kidney. She also didn’t have a full bicep on her right arm.

Despite everything, Oksana is quite happy with the way life has turned out for her. “I could use a little more body, but I’m happy with it,” she admitted.

When she was little, Oksana’s biological mother entrusted her to an orphanage because of her condition. Her life at the orphanage turned out to be a nightmare, full of hunger and abuse.

Through it all, Oksana hoped someone would take her in to adopt. Talking about how she wondered throughout her childhood what it was like to have a family, she said:

“It’s weird not knowing what a family is – not knowing what a mother’s love is. And not really knowing what a hug is or anything. »

Three families nearly adopted Oksana, but it never happened. However, in Buffalo, New York, a speech therapist saw a photo of Oksana in literature from an adoption agency and was moved by what she saw.

Gay Masters scoured the literature and saw what she later described as a “horrifying black and white photo.” The photo showed Oksana standing in front of a table with a giant Easter bunny on it. She was just looking at the camera, and Gay remembers seeing something in Oksana’s eyes that connected them.

“When I saw her picture, I just knew she was my daughter,” Gay said. Shortly after, Oksana saw a photo of Gay. She asked to see her picture every day, hoping that Gay would pick her up as soon as possible.

It wasn’t until two years later that Gay was finally able to travel to Ukraine due to Ukraine’s ban on adoptions. One cold night in January 1997, Oksana was awakened from her sleep.

“Oksana, do you know who it is? they asked, and Oksana knew immediately. In Ukrainian, she replied, “I know you. You are my mother. I have your picture, see? »

Two weeks later, Oksana and Gay returned to Buffalo, and for the first time in Oksana’s young life, she was able to eat a full meal. She was no longer deprived of hugs and she had toys to play with.

When she turned eight, Oksana celebrated her birthday for the first time.

It symbolized his new life, a life that no longer involved begging for food, craving hugs, and not knowing what love was.

Oksana admits to having struggled to learn English at the time and she credited the role “Scooby Doo” played in her learning the new language. In just six months, she had mastered the language, and people thought she had always spoken English.

Oksana did well in school but craved physical activity despite her disability. She enjoyed climbing trees and jumping steps with her neighbors.

Hoping to keep his child safe, Gay sought out safer activities and asked Oksana to try ice skating. The girl fell in love with it, and this began her love for sports.

Oksana also tried swimming and cycling, but the many activities she did put too much pressure on her left leg and it caused her a lot of pain. When she was nine, her left leg was amputated.

At age 13, Oksana moved to Kentucky with Gay. That’s when Gay insisted she try adaptive rowing.

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