Single Mom Adopted an Ill, Abandoned Child and Raised an Olympic Champion

Oksana Masters spent her early years in an orphanage, and let’s just say, those memories weren’t exactly the happiest. She was abandoned by her birth family because of severe disabilities. Born in 1989, Oksana faced a lot right from the start.

Life wasn’t easy, and after bouncing between three orphanages, everything changed when she was adopted by Gay Masters, a single woman from the U.S. From then on, Oksana was surrounded by love and support, and she’s gone on to achieve so many incredible things!

Oksana doesn't have happy memories about her early childhood, all due to many struggles she had to endure as a child.

Born in 1989, Oksana remembers her early childhood as an endless change of orphanages she had to stay in. She was born with one kidney, half a stomach, six toes on each foot, webbed fingers, and no thumbs. On top of that, she didn’t have shinbones in either leg, and her left leg was six inches shorter than her right.

Her birth family gave her up for adoption, and she spent time in three different orphanages before being adopted at seven years old by Gay Masters, a single woman from the U.S. It took a challenging two-year process, but Gay eventually brought Oksana home to start a new chapter of her life.

Gay Masters became more than a mother for an abandoned and ill child, she became her guardian angel.

Oksana’s mom, Gay Masters, shared the story of the first time she saw her. The woman explained, "I had intended to adopt an infant because I know through my line of work how important the first year is for development," said Gay, "but then I was given a black and white photograph of this little girl, there was a sparkle in her eyes and I knew, even though this child was not who I had set out to find, this was my daughter."

Back then, friends tried to talk her out of it. They told her not to adopt an older child, especially one with so many physical challenges. But Gay, a speech pathologist at the University of Louisville, wasn’t about to let anyone tell her what to do—she followed her heart instead.

Oksana and her adoptive mom shared an instant bond right away. Both of them knew they wanted to be a family, and it felt like they were meant to find each other.

Gay shared that the orphanage had shown little Oksana a picture of her and told her that one day, this woman would come to take her home. For two long years, Gay worked through all the adoption paperwork while Oksana waited patiently, dreaming of the day her mom would finally come for her. "If I did something wrong, (the orphanage) would tell me the American woman didn't want a bad child, and she wasn't coming," Oksana remembers.

But Gay did come back. Two years after Oksana was first told about the woman who wanted to be her mother, Gay knelt next to the 7-year-old as she was sleeping in her bed in the orphanage.

Reflecting on her early days with Gay in America, Oksana laughs at how different they were. "Oh yeah, my mom and I were very different; she loves books, and I loved climbing trees."

Oksana and her mother overcame many difficulties together, and it made their bond even stronger.

Oksana was quick and agile, so learning to walk and run with prosthetics came more naturally to her. In America, she underwent several reconstructive surgeries to improve the use of her hands.

Gay, knowing how much movement helped Oksana, decided to introduce her to sports. "I had figured out by that point that sports were a kind of therapy for her, and I signed her up for a horseback riding lesson," Gay said. "I told her it was a state law in Kentucky that everyone learned how to ride a horse."

For Oksana, sports became her escape and her therapy. "I didn't like the idea of a sport that was geared towards people with disabilities," she said. "I wanted to feel like everyone else."

Oksana's way to success was thorhy, but her mom was always there for her.

Oksana's left leg was amputated when the girl was nine; the right, five years later. The woman recalls, "In middle school someone told me about the adaptive rowing club and I hated the fact that it was adaptive, and I did not want to do that at all. I loved the idea of sport, but I did not love the idea of being told I had to do an adaptive sport just because I was on a single leg at that time."

But Gay supported her daughter in every way possible, and she believed in Oksana from the first minute she met her.

Oksana said, "Finally, my mom was like, just go and try it. The minute I got in the water and pushed away from the dock, it was just like a feeling that I got, where it was just the right place at the right time. I loved the pulling of the oars and the release that I got… I wanted to go as hard as I could, of course."

The young woman achieved tremendous success in sports, and she believes that her mom's love and care worked wonders for her.

Complications from her second amputation left Oksana stuck in the hospital for about five months. "I couldn’t get out of bed, and all I wanted was to get back on the water," she said. "I just kept thinking, the moment I get out of here, I’m never going to stop moving. I’m never going to sit in one place like this again."

As soon as she could, Oksana got back in a boat to feel the freedom of being on the water again. It was her happy place. Then, someone casually mentioned the Paralympics to her—and that changed everything.

"And I had no idea what the Paralympics was," she says. "When I found out about it, I went home, looked it up and then my competitive nature came out. Like, 'Oh, my gosh, I can represent the United States? I can wear a flag on my back? What?'"

The young woman came a long way from a novice to Olympian.

Oksana kept rowing throughout her four years at Atherton High School, pouring her heart into the sport. That passion carried her all the way to the 2012 Paralympics in London, where she teamed up with fellow double-amputee athlete Rob Jones. Together, they won a bronze medal in the trunk and arms mixed double sculls event.

But Oksana wasn’t done yet. After the summer games wrapped up, she set her sights on the Winter Paralympics. Jumping into a whole new challenge, she began skiing right after London. With just over a year to learn and train, she competed in cross-country skiing and the biathlon at the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games—and left it with a silver and a bronze medal.

For most athletes, mastering just one Olympic discipline is plenty. But Oksana isn’t most athletes—she’s a rare talent, earning medals in both the Winter and Summer Games. An absolute legend!

Oksana's life now has rapid changes, but her love and gratitude to her mom remains the same and only grows with years.

Oksana Masters is 35 years old now, and her achievements in sports are quite remarkable. She made history at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London by winning the first-ever U.S. medal in the trunk and arms mixed double sculls event. She then joined the U.S. Nordic skiing team for the 2014 and 2018 Winter Paralympics, where she racked up an incredible medal haul: two medals in 2014 and five in 2018, including two golds.

After the 2012 Paralympics, Oksana switched gears—literally—and took up para-cycling. She went on to compete in the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics, winning two gold medals at the latter. She wasn’t done yet, though. At the 2022 Winter Paralympics, she added another gold medal to her collection in the Biathlon – Women's 6 kilometers, sitting. In 2020, Oksana was honored with the prestigious Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability award, cementing her place as one of the greatest athletes of her generation.

As she held one of her trophies, Oksana turned to the camera after speaking directly to her mom and wrapped up her speech with three powerful sentences. These words would make any parent proud, but especially a mother who saw beauty and strength in the eyes and spirit of a little girl with fragile legs and misshapen fingers peering out from a black-and-white photo over 20 years ago.

“To any girl or boy, if you look different or think you look different, never let society decide what you see when you look in the mirror,” Oksana told the crowd. “Never let them dictate what’s possible. Go for it.”

And here's a story of a single gay dad, who adopted a child who was almost dying because of malnutrition and illnesses. And the proud father raised a real Olympic champion, proving that fatherly love can defeat all evils.