“Unconditional Love: Celebrating the Unsung Heroes of Motherhood”sn

Gay Masters saved the little life. In the mid-90s, a single speech therapist from Buffalo monitored American boarding schools in search of a newborn baby, but adjusted her plans after meeting a couple who had adopted a child from Russia. The family showed Gay a photo of a 6-year-old girl from Ukraine, and the woman melted: “It was a tattered black and white photograph. Oksana looked straight into the camera, and something in her gaze caught me. Then I realized – this is my daughter.”

Representatives of the boarding school where the girl lived dissuaded Masters from the idea, advised her to go to Russia, where it is much easier to obtain guardianship, and even gave addresses of specific shelters. But it was Oksana who fell into the woman’s soul. The registration process took more than two years, and in January 1997, Gay finally came to pick up the child.

The poor thing was lying in a sweater under a blanket and, seeing a familiar face, immediately jumped out of bed. “I know you, you are my mother! I have a photograph,” Masters did not speak either Russian or Ukrainian, but she understood everything without the help of the translator standing behind her.

At home, Oksana learned English from Scooby-Doo cartoons, laughed (sometimes even inappropriately) to show how happy she was, and called all the dolls by the same name – Lena. That was the name of her friend from the boarding school. The girls ran for food together at night, but one day Lena disappeared. According to the teachers, she fell ill and died.

In America, Oksana forgot about hunger, gained the missing weight, but alarmed the doctors. The leg bones could not cope with the growing body weight, so the hospital started talking about amputation of the limbs. “I didn’t bring her to another country to cut off her legs,” Gaye rebelled against the doctors’ decision.

Masters Sr. only reconciled herself a year later, when Oksana was tormented by pain. They only took away the left leg, which had been abnormally shaped since birth; there was hope that the prosthesis would relieve the right limb of excess load and preserve it. 9-year-old Oksana quickly adapted to the changes and within a month she was skating with her mother, swimming in the pool and even playing volleyball.

The legend about the crocodile attack seemed like an ideal excuse for the little girl. The teenagers appreciated the story and accepted the new girl, who was giving everyone a hard time in physical education classes. Then she was offered to sign up for adaptive rowing. A short dialogue took place between Oksana and the physical education teacher:

“What does adaptive mean?”
– Rowing for people with disabilities.
– Oh, no, thank you.

The girl did not consider herself disabled: before that she had never played sports with such a terrifying prefix. But Gay’s maternal feeling insisted that she definitely had to try. So that her mother would fall behind, Oksana agreed to one lesson, and she suddenly liked it. Masters felt freedom on the water.

Masters qualified for the 2012 Paralympics and took bronze in a pair with Rob Jones, who lost his legs in a landmine accident in Afghanistan. “On the pedestal I felt dizzy and trembling. Seeing my mother smiling in the stands, I rushed to her. She hugged me and said: “I told you everything would work out!” – The Masters cried with happiness.

Instead of skis, Masters had a sled and enthusiasm. She had enough arm strength, but no technique, so at first the athlete slowed down, simply falling on her side. Aaron Pike from the men’s Paralympic team shared his experience and a relationship began. In Sochi, Oksana did not let her boyfriend down: silver and bronze in skiing, plus fourth place in biathlon.