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Episode details

World Service,16 Jun 2021,38 mins

Oksana Masters

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Abandoned by her birth parents, Oksana Masters had birth defects caused by radiation, most likely from Chernobyl. Trapped and struggling to survive inside an abusive orphanage system in Ukraine, at the age of eight she was adopted by an American single mother. Oksana tells us how she used the trauma of her youth to push herself to sporting greatness, including winning medals at the winter and summer Paralympics. Harnessing the anger and drawing on massive reserves of determination, this is a remarkable story of coming to terms with trauma and refusing to let it define you.

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