Ya Sama! Moments from My Life

Tatyana McFadden is one of the all-time great athletes in sports history. Ya Sama! Moments from My Life chronicles the incredible journey from her birth with spina bifida in Russia in 1989 and her early years in a St. Petersburg orphanage, to her U.S. adoption and international success in wheelchair racing. Ya sama is a Russian expression that means "I can do it." Since her earliest memories ya sama has been Tatyana's guiding belief that she could do anything she set her mind and imagination to do. The result is a life that goes beyond just surviving tragedy to actually using her unique situation to become a success both on and off the racing track. Beginning at the 2004 Athens Paralympics at the age of fifteen, Tatyana has proven her exceptionalism through her achievements as a ten-time gold, silver, and bronze-medal summer Paralympic athlete; a silver-medal winter Paralympic athlete; sixteen-time World Champion; and winner of thirteen major world marathons and three Grand Slams. Now 27 years old, Tatyana will be competing in the Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games this September. Ya Sama! Moments from My Life is written for middle-school readers, but the book's engaging first-person narrative will appeal to people of all ages. Tatyana's story of optimism and perseverance will resonate with anyone confronted with obstacles in life, whether great or small. More than a story of against-the-odds survival, Ya Sama! Moments from My Life is a fascinate and unique story of the power of human spirit.
About the Author: There are very few athletes in history who have achieved so much under such unique circumstances. Born with spina bifida, Tatyana McFadden spent the first six years of her life in a Russian orphanage with virtually nothing, not even a wheelchair. Paralyzed from the waist down, and with no other way to move, she learned to scoot and walk on her hands simply to keep up with the other children. Little did she know that the powerful arms and hands she began to develop as a small child would someday carry her around the globe as one of the world's greatest athletes. In 1994, she was adopted and brought to the United States. Adjusting to her new home was not easy. Her lack of nutrition and proper healthcare in the orphanage made her weak and sickly. Her parents enrolled her in various sports groups in hopes that it would build her strength. A decade later, she won her first silver and bronze medals in the Athens Paralympics. Now at the age of 27, Tatyana is one of the foremost athletes in the world having won numerous gold, silver and bronze medals in the Paralympics, as well as having won first place in the women's wheelchair race division of the Boston, Chicago, London, and New York City marathons in 2013, 2014, and 2015.