Don’t give up hope yet. If you are copying and pasting from a word document DON’T. Use the Place command in the File menu. When the dialog box displays make sure you select the preserve text & table radio button. That way your word styles have a good chance importing intact. You can leave import styles selected. I always place in a text frame. If everything look kinda good then you can create your character styles. Anne Marie Concepcion has a great course on lynda.com that goes through this very process in detail. You might be able to view it without having to purchase anything.
Good Luck