BUFFALO, N.Y. — Oksana Masters is an American multi-sport paralympic athlete with an attitude that never quits. Her phenomenal athleticism is obvious.
She is a 17x Paralympic medalist who won the first-ever United States medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.
Her sports include adaptive rowing, para-cycling, and cross-country skiing.
She was born in Ukraine in 1989. Life was not easy. Radiation poisoning from the Chornobyl nuclear reactor left Oksana with physical defects. She has six toes on each foot, five webbed fingers on each hand, and no thumbs...At age 9 her left leg was amputated. at 14, the right leg.
Oksana was adopted in 1997 by a professor at the University at Buffalo.
"I didn't want to share parts of my experiences or be viewed this way. But what I didn't realize is the impact it was having on others, me speaking my experiences, how someone else may walk in those same shoes, she said.
Oksana was adopted in 1997 by a professor Gay Masters, at the University at Buffalo.
"There was a moratorium that was put on the US for foreign adoptions around that time. And I was the first American child adopted when that was lifted here in the US and came over to Buffalo, NY."
An Aretha Franklin song about a rose is special to Oksana who sports a rose tattoo. "That reference is Aretha Franklin's song that I fell in love with because"...
"Growing up in government orphanages I lived in three different ones until I was adopted. A lot of good things, but also a majority of not-so-good things happen. I really struggled with the whole process of loving every part of me and the memories that I had at night no one knew about," she said.
Growing up she attended Maplemere Elementary in the Sweet Home school district.
Her love of sports happened in WNY. She participated in SABAH.
"Even in that program, like I had no. Idea I was. disabled or had this ability at all. I never felt that way. I had my one leg amputated in Buffalo and then we moved to Louisville Kentucky," where her other leg was amputated.
Oksana recently returned to Buffalo to attend a Buffalo Bills game. She was able to meet up with a childhood friend, Jessica.
Never has her disability stopped Oksana from reaching her goals. "I think why I didn't see myself as an athlete is because I didn't have the opportunities and they weren't there," until she entered SABAH, an organization for those with disabilities.
"You stand up more than you fall, but you're the one that decides if you want to stay down or not," she said with a beaming smile.
Oksana is looking forward to representing Team USA in the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. She will be cycling.
"It's so impossible to put it into words because when you hear Team USA, it's united. We are just one nation and we're all together."
You can watch Oksana's full interview with Claudine Ewing below: