The Hard Parts

A Memoir of Courage and Triumph

By: Oksana Masters, Cassidy Randall

Narrated by: Emily Tremaine

A 2024 Christopher Award Winner

“A gut-wrenching, wildly inspiring story about overcoming the most daunting obstacles through steely tenacity, sheer will, and a great big dose of motherly love.” —Jeannette Walls, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle

An inspirational and powerful memoir from the United States’s most decorated winter Paralympic or Olympic athlete, The Hard Parts is Oksana Masters’s gripping account of overcoming extraordinary Chernobyl disaster–caused physical challenges to create a life that challenges everyone to push through what is holding them back.

Oksana Masters was born in Ukraine—in the shadow of Chernobyl—seemingly 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 the required 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 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.

Oksana’s astonishing story of journeying through a series of dark tunnels is “as true a tale of grit as I’ve ever heard, with a message filled with triumph and beauty—that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, if we are loved” (Angela Duckworth, New York Times bestselling author of Grit).

Story of unfathomable courage!

It was a hard book to set down. It is a very inspirational story. Shows how important it is to not give up.

Strength is Oksana Masters

I enjoyed this book from beginning to end! Raw and poignant, the story of being true to oneself. Oksana Masters is a woman who despite all she lived, did not let it define her. It opens to the darkness within her childhood and how she found warmth in a cold, brutal place. Through adoption she was saved and she became to know love. Her words of "what happens to you in life does not define who you are" speak volumes. This is a powerful story of being the best you can be!

Amazing story of strength and determination

Such an inspirational story that can give way to the true power that is held within each one of us if we are only willing to dig deep enough to bring it forth!

Amazing reminder of the power of determination and perseverance to succeed and not fall into Victim mode.

Powerful story of finding a path to manage challenges that create roadblocks. The story made me reevaluate my own journey to overcome demons in my life. Oksana was dealt a very poor hand but found a way to succeed. There is no reason all of us can’t find a path forward.

For All

Oksana’s experience is helpful to everyone. Not just people interested in human development. Not just for people who are striving toward peak performance. Not just for Doctors, nurses, physical therapists, or psych therapists. Not simply for people struggling with disabilities, or being labeled “other” or incapable. Oksana’s experiences should be shared, tools to use in creating a truer world.