Transcript: From Russian orphan to Team USA

This is a full transcript of From Russian orphan to Team USA presented by Beth Rose with Tatyana and Deborah McFadden as first broadcast on 27 April 2018.

BETH: Hello and welcome to the BBC Ouch podcast, this week we're really lucky to be speaking to wheelchair racer Tatyana McFadden -

She's the poster girl for Team USA and para-sports and has 17 Paralympic medals and many Marathon titles to her name.

But her life hasn't all been about privilege and prizes.

Her story, in fact, begins in Orphanage Three, Saint Petersburg, Russia. It includes a snap adoption by an American couple at the age of six and relocation to a foreign country where she was only expected to live for a couple of years.

It also includes a high profile court case in which her adopted mother, Deborah, sued the US government on Tatyana's behalf.

BETH - So, you've had a pretty busy time recently with the Boston Marathon and the London Marathon and meeting Prince Harry. So, how have things been on the track for you?

TATYANA - It's been a wonderful week, it definitely has been a whirlwind coming from winning Boston in really rough conditions, it was below freezing, down pouring rain/a little bit of ice. It was a really, really tough marathon. It was definitely a different marathon that I've never run before in Boston, so it made it really, really challenging and it made it a completely different race. When you have those conditions like that you don't know how the athletes will react to it. But for me I was pretty well prepared for Boston. We had similar conditions in Illinois in Champagne, and then coming to London it was wonderful coming here because you guys had a warm streak.

BETH - We did, a rare warm streak.

TATYANA - For about a week, so that was really, really nice. I almost felt like I was on a holiday coming here, it was really, really nice. London is always an interesting marathon as well because the course is so flat and there is not really that many uphills or downhills like Boston, so it makes it for a really, really unique race. And I knew that it was coming down to a strength finish at the very end, it usually does, and it make it really challenging.

During the race we had one girl that took off at mile three at the downhill and then we all worked together to catch her. And then a couple of girls tried to scoop away on the turns, but being the course so flat we were able to just catch right back up and in a pack of five again. So, it was really fun, it was really exciting, and it was really quite warm too. And it's so much fun being top three; not only getting the reward for being top three but meeting the Prince, Prince Harry.

BETH - Yeah, that's a bonus!

TATYANA - He's the nicest, nicest person on earth. It was a great week. Celebrating a birthday on Saturday. So, I couldn't ask for anything better.

BETH - So, it really has been a busy and exciting week. But if we go way back - so you're American, I can hear your American accent, you race for team USA in the Paralympics - but that's not where your story, your life began. So, tell me a bit right from the beginning about growing up where you were.

TATYANA - So, I didn't have a typical childhood growing up. I was born in St Petersburg, Russia. And during the time of the '80s, I just snuck in in '89, it was a different time for Russia. And so being born with spina bifida, which is a hole in your back and your spinal column is sticking out, and usually you would receive surgery right after birth, but for me that wasn't the case and it took 21 days for me to get surgery. And right after surgery I was put into orphanage number three because my birth mum couldn't take care of me. I was really, really sick and just the resources, she just physically couldn't or financially couldn't. And so for the first six years of my life I lived in an orphanage. I had no medical treatment, I had no wheelchair, no education, I was just pretty much living in a bubble at the orphanage.

The sixth year changed when my mum happened to walk through the door. And she was purely there on a business trip, not looking to adopt any child, I remember seeing her for the first time and I felt like it was fate that brought us together, I just knew immediately looking at her that it was my mum. I remember telling the orphanage director that, I remember telling many people that, and they just sort of laughed at me, yeah, yeah, what do you know as a six year old. And before I knew it I was adopted and on my way to the US and everything changed.

I had a lot of first things happen, and surgeries because my legs were atrophied behind my back, so to straighten it out. And going to school for the first time and getting involved with sports for the first time.

BETH - So, pre this woman from America just walking in and changing everything can you remember what life was like in an orphanage?

TATYANA - Yeah, you just live it. You never went to school and you never had outings, so you just kind of lived in a small bubble in that area. You weren't really in contact with the outside world. You were in an orphanage with a bunch of children, and I at the time was the only physically disabled child at the orphanage.

BETH - You can't walk, so the parents at the orphanage did they take good care of you? Were they quite generous?

TATYANA - Yeah, so in the orphanage, not having a wheelchair I scooted on the ground or I walked on my hands sometimes too. Yes, there were the orphanage directors and the care givers there. But I wanted to be fully independent. As a young child I wanted to be just like all the other children, so wherever they went I went. I never considered myself different; I've always considered myself as the same as everyone else. So, I made sure I got to wherever they were going I was going by either scooting or walking on my hands. I wanted to do everything on my own.

BETH - It's difficult when you're a six year old, but did you have any perception of what future life might hold? Or was your life just the orphanage? I mean, you're six so.

TATYANA - Yeah, being a six year old your life is just kind of the orphanage. I didn't know about education, I didn't know about jobs or sports. You're cut off from the world. I didn't really know anything. That's why coming to the US it was really exciting yet scary and apprehensive. All of a sudden you have everything at your fingertips so I wasn't used to that.

BETH - In that year, which I'm guessing is around '95.

TATYANA - Yes.

BETH - Deborah, your mum, is here with us.

TATYANA - Yes.

BETH - Tell me a little bit about why you were in Russia, what your plans for that trip were?

DEBORAH - Actually in '95 was when I brought Tatyana to America but I had met her before that. And this was the fall of communism so things were bleak, they were grim, and yet it was also a time of a lot of hope and change because the countries had opened up. And I was charged with giving away aid, and we could give it anywhere we wanted, and lots of people were giving just to hospitals; I thought I should give to those who live in the shadow of life, which would be people with disabilities who are in orphanages.

BETH - So, you were working for the US government, weren't you?

DEBORAH - Yes. So, I got to see thousands, maybe tens of thousands of children, and they're all cute. But it had never been on my mind, even growing up, some people say I want to adopt, just never thought about that.

And I do remember walking into the orphanage. Tatyana, usually people are put into, disabled children, by a clerical error, she was there and I'm coming and seeing all these cute kids, and there's this little girl with a bow on her head bigger than her head peaking behind one of the care givers. They weren't letting her in to the room. And she just had these bright eyes and this great smile, so I said, well come on in - which they were surprised because who wants to see a child with disability. And I put her on my lap, and I remember I had a camera at this time and she clearly wanted to know what it was, and I'm speaking in English saying, this is an F-stop, the aperture and you do this, and she's going, da, da, da. And finally I gave her my camera, [Russian].

So, when we were leaving to go to the next room I said, Tatyana, come with me. And she just went around with me. And that night when I was back at the hotel I could not get her off my mind. And so I told the staff, I said, I'm going to go back to that orphanage. And they said, why, we've got other things. And I said, I'm just going to go back. And I was just very charmed with Tatyana.

Now, I travelled back and forth every six weeks, so I told her, next time I'm going to bring you some pretty clothes - they didn't have toys, a few but not many - and I'll bring you a wheelchair. Of course she didn't know what it was but she was like, da, like so happy. [Laughter] So, I came back several times and of course had to give her the best clothes and then one time when they were ready to transfer her to another orphanage I said, oh no, she'll be coming home with me.

BETH - Was that like almost a snap decision in response to, she's moving, I need to do this now? What kind of timeframe are we talking?

DEBORAH - It took me a year to get her out. But I hadn't been thinking about adoption, but at the moment they said they were going to transfer her to this place, which frankly in your worst nightmare you can't imagine it, I said, you can't do this, you can't do this. And the reaction I had was the reaction of a parent, which was the first time I started thinking: this is my child.

And the orphanage director told me later, she said, Tatyana had told everybody that's my mum. And they had taken a picture of me and put it up on a bookshelf and she would tell everybody, that's my mum. And that's my daughter!

BETH - And what was it like for you every time your mum went back to America?

TATYANA - Well, I didn't really understand where she was going, and so I think waiting was probably the hardest part because I just didn't know why she left and then came back. The day that I left it was the day that changed my life 100% completely.

BETH - Your partner, Bridget, was back in America; had you floated this idea to her or was it a bit of a surprise?

DEBORAH - Hi honey, I'm bringing home a souvenir. [Laughter] I called and said…I'd talked non-stop about Tatyana, but it still hadn't hit me. I knew she was special but the fact I'm bringing her home to be adopted, she was thrilled, she was thrilled with everything I told about her.

But when I went it was a surprise because she didn't have any paperwork. Children get paperwork in an orphanage if there's a chance they can be adopted; although at that time adoption wasn't something that was happening. So, we had to get Tatyana registered and get her a passport and permission to travel. She was amazing: all of a sudden I take her from an orphanage, what they had told her was, you're going to a great place in America, you'll have a lot of food. And I remember we came into the hotel and she went, am I in America. We had her on a car and a train from St Petersburg to Moscow and on a plane and there's plenty of food and she had some pretty clothes that didn't smell, and I said, no that's not America yet. But Tatyana she had a gusto for life.

But when she arrived in America the doctors in the hospitals had said she will not have a long life. She'd lacked the medical care for six and a half years. So, what I did is I thought well, I've got to get her strong, how am I going to do that, and I thought well, swimming you don't need your legs. So, I got her involved in swimming, which was a challenge because every time we'd show up for her swimming lessons people would say, well I can't teach her. But I finally found a private instructor and when I showed up she goes, I can't do it, I said, I'm begging you. I'll pay you for five lessons; if you can't do it after two… In fact what I said to her when I called I said, I understand you're the best at teaching swimming with young kids. Yes I love them. I go, oh and I suppose children learn differently. Yes, they all do. I said, I suppose some kids use their arms more than their legs. She said, oh many children don't use their legs. I said, well that'll be my daughter. [Laughter]

When I showed up she really was nervous and she said, well she'll be afraid of water. She said to Tatyana - and Tatyana is not speaking English - right Tatyana, we're going to go in the water. And she must have gestured; Tatyana pushed herself off the ledge and sank right down. The instructor got her, thinking she'd cry, are you okay. And Tatyana went, [Russian] which is in Russian I can do this, I can do it myself.

BETH - And can you remember those first few weeks, months in America? What was it like?

TATYANA - I can't remember specific details, but I mean it was just overwhelming and really, really exciting. I'd never experienced before like going to a friend's house or going to school and meeting friends, starting sports. I even tried ice skating for the first time. I didn't understand that concept: why is this so cold. I think I remember telling my parents to put it in the microwave for me. I just remember it being exciting.

DEBORAH - I remember we gave her a doll and she loved the packaging. She opened it up, and there were other friends there who had children and so when she was done she kind of held it and stroked it and then - and it's a concept as a parent you usually think you've got to say to your kids share, share, share - and I needed to teach her, you don't have to share this, it's yours, these clothes are yours.

And I will say that I had three outfits in the closet when she arrived home, and then went out and bought maybe two or three more, and she went, it's too much, too much. And of course now her closet's full and it's not enough. [Laughter]

BETH - Never enough.

TATYANA - Never.

BETH - And you did a lot of sports. You started in swimming and then I think you did gymnastics. Obviously at some point you got to track and wheelchair racing. So, tell me a bit about your sport and how easy it was or not in America to get involved.

TATYANA - The very first few sports that I got involved with were actually through a local sports para club. I got involved with swimming with just a normal instructor, and I did gymnastics with all the other kids.

Finally my parents found a local sports programme for children with physical disabilities. The para sports club was amazing. It allowed me to try so many different sports because they had all the sports chairs available. I did swimming of course, and then I was able to try wheelchair basketball, and then I was able to try field and table tennis, downhill skiing, and finally wheelchair racing. And there was just something with wheelchair racing that really clicked with me. I'm not sure if it was the need for speed as a child, but it was something that I really, really loved and really enjoyed.

What was important about the sports club was that what I noticed was it allowed me to become stronger and more independent. I was living life better for myself, and being more involved in the community, that was so important and just watching myself grow. Then you can have your dreams and your goals and whatever you want to become, and for me that was I wanted to become an Olympic athlete. At the time I didn't know what Paralympics was. I remember seeing the Olympic trials were getting ready when I was in eighth grade and it was all over the newspapers or TV. We didn't have social media like we do right now.

So, at the time I've only been training track with a local sports coach, and I told my parents, I want to be at the Paralympics one day. And they said okay. So, they were the ones that found where trials were going to be. A lot of early stages of sports we had to do most of the research because it just wasn't out in the public media. I remember going to trials and I was really young, 15 years old, the youngest on track ever to try out, I remember turning to my parents and I was like, what do I do, how should I race this. And my parents aren't coaches. And they said, just go fast.

I qualified for Athens that year in 2004 for the 100 metre and the 200 metre and the 400 metre. And I remember winning a silver and bronze medal was absolutely amazing, and to be on the podium I just knew that this is something that I wanted to do, this is something that I wanted to, when I was on the medals stand I was already thinking about the Beijing Games, and I wanted to become faster and better and really make something of this sport and to be part of that growth process.

An athlete that I looked up to on the para side was Chantal Petitclerc and she really paved the way for Paralympics at the time. She was very strong and very dominant. I wanted to be just like her, and that's where it kind of led me here.

BETH - It sounds like a dream story. It sounds really easy. But I don't think it was so easy. I read something about a lawsuit that you had to file in order to be allowed to take part in some sports at school. So, tell me a bit about that Debra.

DEBORAH - So, Tatyana, in wheelchair racing you don't reach your prime till your late 30s or late 40s, so she was actually 14, about to turn 15 that she was thinking about these trials. But when she made the team the US OC said, this will be a great experience for her and she won't win medals, she's too young, but it will help her get ready for the next Games. Lo and behold she came home with a silver and bronze, so the second and third fastest in the world.

And when she went to high school she came home from the first day and said, oh mom, it's going to be a great high school experience. I said, why's that. And she said, because the principal said there's a lot of clubs and we should join what's favourite to us. And I said, what are you going to join. And it was that look only a 15 year old can give of doh, track.

Now, track is not a try-out sport; anyone can go and be on the team. You're giving a uniform and you can run on the track. You may not advance but you can be on the team. So, when she showed up she was told not only verbally but in writing, you can't be on the team; there's clubs for kids like you: you have to run with your own kind. And when she came home and told me this I thought certainly she misunderstood, because there's not a person in the world whose mother has said to them, if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all.

So, I said go try again. And when she came back and said no, she said, would you talk. And I talked to them and they said no way. And Tatyana said, well what can we do, would they let my sister. My middle daughter Hannah, we had to amputate her leg and she's also a runner, and I said, I don't think so. And Tatyana said, well it's not fair. I said, well at this point the only thing we can do is file a lawsuit, but understand if we do that there will be many people who will not like you and it will be an unpleasant experience. And she said, well we need to do that not only for my sister but for other people. So, she never said: for me.

So, I went back to the school and said, I'm asking for two things: I'm asking that you give her a uniform and you let her run around the track. And they're shaking their head. I said, I'm not asking for her to compete.

BETH - Why didn't they want her on the track?

DEBORAH - Because they felt that somebody in a wheelchair didn't run; running in a wheelchair is not running. And two, it's not really what we all do; we run with our legs.

I said, she runs with her hands, and she wants to be with her friends - these are like-minded kids. I said, if she played chess she'd join the chess club; but she's an athlete and she's second and third fastest in the world. And so again I went back and said, give her a uniform and let her run around the track. And they said no. I said, I want you to know that if you say no to those two things I will file a lawsuit and I will win. And they kind of laughed. I said, let me tell you my background: I was Commissioner of Disabilities, which I think in your country is Deputy Minister; I was one of the people who helped the overwriting of the American Disabilities Act. I had 400 attorneys who worked under me and I know everybody. So, it'll be nuclear war. I'm just telling you, give her a uniform and let her run around the track. And they said, sue us.

BETH: It's an incredible story so far. But there's more to come - we simply couldn't squash all of this interview into a single podcast. If you've liked what you've heard so far, get in touch - find us on Facebook, BBC Ouch, we're @bbcouch on Twitter, BBC_Ouch_disability on Instagram or email [e-mail].

So, get in touch while you wait for the second instalment of Tatyana's story.