A 2024 Christopher Award Winner
âA gut-wrenching, wildly inspiring story about overcoming the most daunting obstacles through steely tenacity, sheer will, and a great big dose of motherly love.â âJeannette Walls, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle
An inspirational and powerful memoir from the United Statesâs most decorated winter Paralympic or Olympic athlete, The Hard Parts is Oksana Mastersâs gripping account of overcoming extraordinary Chernobyl disasterâcaused physical challenges to create a life that challenges everyone to push through what is holding them back.
Oksana Masters was born in Ukraineâin the shadow of Chernobylâseemingly with the odds stacked against her. She came into the world with one kidney, a partial stomach, six toes on each foot, webbed fingers, no right bicep, and no thumbs. Her left leg was six inches shorter than her right, and she was missing both tibias.
Relinquished to the orphanage system by birth parents daunted by the staggering cost of what would be their childâs medical care, Oksana encountered numerous abuses, some horrifying. 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 from her circumstances.
In America, Oksana endured years of operations that included a double leg amputation. Still, how could she hope to fit in when there were so many things making her different?
As it turned out, she would do much more than fit in. Determined to prove herself and fueled by a drive to succeed that still smoldered from childhood, Oksana triumphed in not just one sport but fourâwinning against the worldâs best in elite rowing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, and road cycling competitions. Now considered one of the worldâs top athletes, she is the recipient of seventeen Paralympic medals, the most of any US athlete of the Winter Games, Paralympic or Olympic.
Oksanaâs astonishing story of journeying through a series of dark tunnels is âas true a tale of grit as Iâve ever heard, with a message filled with triumph and beautyâthat what doesnât kill us makes us stronger, if we are lovedâ (Angela Duckworth, New York Times bestselling author of Grit).