Biography of Oksana Masters

This was not her first medal of the Paralympic Games, but she was especially valuable. She just won silver in a ski race at the games of the year in Sochi. She held her prize in her hands, and at that time the anthem of neighboring Ukraine sounded, whose representative Lyudmila Pavlenko became a winner. Due to the effects of radiation, it was born with serious physical defects.

In Sochi, the girl played for the United States, where she moved after a lonely woman adopted her. The opportunity to return to a place that is so close to her homeland was a strong incentive for her to participate in the qualification, which had to be passed for a trip to Russia. Although I did not receive a gold medal, it seemed that this was what happened, ”she said.

How to say, so as not to offend the Triumph’s moment, Oksana was still ahead. Four out of five of five medals won by her were gold. This year she would participate in her fifth paralympic games that will be held in the summer in Tokyo. This will become a new chapter in Oksana’s amazing life, which she shared with which she shared with which she shared with which she shared it BBC. This story began in a Ukrainian orphanage, in which she lived up to seven years.

The author of the photo, Oksana Masters signature for the photo, the adoptive mother Masters decided to adopt her only when she saw her in the photo I have good and bad memories. I remember the fields of sunflower. Maybe I was too small then, but they seemed huge. There was still a plum tree, and we did not have so much food, so we stole plums and collected seeds from sunflowers.

Now that I see sunflowers, I have pleasant associations. Those horrors that you heard about orphanages of Eastern Europe correspond to the truth. I well remember very, very acute stomach pain from constant hunger. They refused me immediately after birth. I was born with six fingers on my legs, I lacked the supporting bones in my legs, my knees were deformed.

The fingers on the hands were fused, there were no thumbs. I have no right biceps, there are no some organs. I have one kidney, but there is no enamel on my teeth. Once in the United States, I learned that the only reason for the lack of enamel in the newborn is the effect of radiation. This was connected with the Chernobyl accident, because I was born not far from there, and the radiation level continued to grow several years after the explosion.

She continued to act for several years until my birth. In the village where the orphanage was located, there was a power station that worked with frequent interruptions. When the radiation level was especially high, a policeman traveled from home to house, warning that it was necessary to close the doors and windows and not leave the house. I recently watched the series "Chernobyl".

Part of the story was familiar to me. I knew that the scale of what happened then tried to hide. It is sad that there were so many victims and people lost their homes. That part of the country will never be the same. I do not want to call myself the result of what happened, something terrible. It is important to see the potential and opportunities, for example, to become an athlete, and not to think constantly, what could go differently.

The author of the photo, Oksana Masters signature for the photo, the games in Tokyo will become for Masters the fifth paralympics when I was five years old, I was called to the director of the director, who said: "I have a photo that I want to show you - this is your future mother." She had eyes and smile full of warmth. We have never met. She decided to adopt me when she saw me in the photo.

Every day I asked the director to show me my mother until she came to the orphanage. Sometimes, when I behaved badly, the director used it against me: "Today you will not see a photo. You are a bad girl. Therefore, she does not come to you - because you do not obey." The whole process took two years, and I began to believe in it. But thanks to her photo, I did not lose hope.

She fought for me for two years, and then came and saw the conditions in the conditions. When she went into the lobby, there the ice was removed from the floor, because the heaters froze. The adoptive mother of Masters - the teacher of the University of Buffalo - knew that her daughter had to amputate the left leg of her daughter. The operation was carried out when the girl was nine years old, shortly after moving to the United States.

Oksana settled in Louisville, Kentukki, because her adoptive mother received a job at a local university. A year later, Oksana was amputated the second leg. The author of the photo, Oksana Masters signature for the photo, Oksana Masters posted this photo on Instagram with the signature: “Mom, there are no such words to describe how much I love you and how wonderful you are“ I did not know that I differ from others until I came to America.

Only then did I realize that everything that I experienced is not something normal. I was diagnosed with development delay. In fact, I did not go. At eight years, my height was only 86 cm, and I weighed 16 kg. In the US, these are indicators of a healthy three -year -old child! For the first two years I had to wear clothes for very young children.Now that we have become older and can discuss the experience, I respect what my mother had to go through.

It was almost impossible for a single woman to adopt someone or adopt. She had to undergo a psychiatric examination many times. She was asked: “Why are you alone? What is wrong with you? Where is your husband? It’s hard for me to imagine how she coped with this before she arrived and saw me for the first time. This is a clear evidence that she is a strong person with a pure heart.

Anyone who accepts other people's children from above. But what my mother did is even higher. She knew that my left foot was, which was my left. In short, I need to amputate. It was not easy to survive, but it was even more difficult at 13 years old, when the doctors said that they could not save my right leg.

The author of the photo, Oksana Masters for a very long time, I could not prepare myself for this, because I knew how limited I became in my capabilities. But the pain in the right leg became unbearable, and I said: "Okay, I am ready, but with one condition. I want to keep my knee." Not everyone understands that amputations are different. The leg has an ankle joint and a knee joint - these are two joints.

I did not want to live without four joints. I was convinced that everything would be fine. But before the operation itself, they said that the leg would be amputated above the knee. I was under anesthesia and did not know what was happening, but I would never forget, as I woke up then in the hospital. I tried to rise, but there were no more supports in my legs, and I fell on my back.

It was hard. To be honest, I'm still angry because of this. There were no more operations on the legs, but there was a strange feeling: I did not have the opportunity to say goodbye to my foot, since I did not know that I would completely lose it. Oksana did several operations on both hands, and in the year she took up rowing. At the Paralympics of the year, she won bronze in a mixed deuce with Rob Jones, this medal became the first for her.

In the year in Sochi, she performed in ski races. The first person who offered to participate in the Paralympics and international competitions was Randy Mills, a Groce Club Program Director for people with disabilities in Louisville. I do not like to lose, and he noticed it. I just needed to get the necessary sports training in order to reach the appropriate level. In the year, I brought in certificates about what the Paralympics are, and I thought: “My God, it’s so great!

In the year at the Games in London, I realized:“ My place is here. ”From that moment I devoted myself to this. In my child, I had low self-esteem. It seemed a real disaster, when something was not so from a hairstyle, or on my face, it appeared on the school that day, when it came to school when the school came to school when the school came to the school The photographer.

Then society hangs a shortcut on you, although you do not consider yourself disabled. This is what they decide for you.