The Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage and Triumph

Name: The Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage and Triumph
Price: 19.50 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Oksana Masters
ISBN: 9781982185503

Oksana Masters was born in Ukraine — in the shadow of Chernobyl — seemingly with the world against her. She was born with multiple serious birth defects, including a left leg that was six inches shorter than her right, and missing both tibias. Relinquished to the orphanage system by birth parents daunted by the staggering cost of their child’s medical care, Oksana encountered numerous abuses. Salvation came at age seven when Gay Masters, an unmarried American professor who saw a photo of the little girl and became haunted by her eyes, waged a two-year war against stubborn adoption authorities to rescue Oksana.

In America, Oksana endured years of operations that included a double leg amputation. Determined to prove herself and fueled by a drive to succeed that still smoldered from childhood, Oksana triumphed in not just one sport but four — winning against the world’s best in elite rowing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, and road cycling competitions. Now considered one of the world’s top athletes, she is the recipient of seventeen Paralympic medals, the most of any US athlete of the Winter Games, Paralympic or Olympic.

This is Oksana’s astonishing story of journeying through a series of dark tunnels — and how, with her mother’s love, she finally found her way into the light. Her message to anyone who doesn’t fit in: you can find a place where you excel — where you have worth.