thedrifter
02-27-07, 04:05 PM
'I'm lucky,' ABC's Bob Woodruff says
Updated 2/27/2007 9:10 AM ET
By Peter Johnson, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — E-mail pjohnson@usatoday.com
Spend some time talking to ABC's Bob Woodruff, and it's nearly impossible to tell that he was almost been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq on Jan. 29, 2006, and sustained such severe brain trauma that it required removing part of his skull.
"I'm lucky," Woodruff told reporters Monday in his first interview since he was wounded. "This turned out a lot better than it could have."
His face, some scars aside, looks about the same as it did when he co-anchored World News Tonight for just 27 days, until the 28th nearly cost him his life as he rode atop a tank in Taji, north of Baghdad.
Woodruff says he still has difficulty remembering certain words, but as he fields questions, his mind — he's a lawyer — seems as sharp as ever. That prompts questions of whether he'll ever anchor World News Tonight again.
ABC News president David Westin doesn't rule it out. "Every time there has been a juncture in Bob's progress, he has exceeded it. I think we would be really foolish to underestimate Bob. I think we should assume the best."
But Westin says he will not send Woodruff back to Iraq because Woodruff would be more vulnerable, having already suffered severe trauma. "It would be the height of recklessness."
Woodruff says he's optimistic about his future. "When I woke up, I couldn't remember a single state in this country. I couldn't remember my brothers' names, and I couldn't remember my two youngest daughters — not just their names but their existence.
"You can see the change from then to now is significant, but there's still more to do," says Woodruff, who has gone from five to six days a week of therapy down to one. "Will I get to 100%? Probably unlikely, but maybe if I get to somewhere in the 90s, that would be pretty damn good."
Such are the wonders of modern trauma-treatment techniques as practiced by U.S. military doctors on Woodruff and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, after they were severely injured while reporting on American efforts to hand over military responsibilities to the Iraqis.
But many others — from soldiers who also have suffered severe head traumas from bullets and bombs in Iraq to their families now coping with those injuries — have not been so lucky.
In an emotional ABC special Tuesday night, To Iraq and Back (10 ET/PT), Woodruff reports on what happened to him, on his recovery and on the severe care crisis facing thousands of injured soldiers who have suffered brain injuries and are now under the care of the U.S. government.
"It was very important to me for the story to be about others who had gone through the same thing," Woodruff says. This type of severe head injury "happens to Marines and soldiers every day, but a lot of times it won't get covered (by the media) because no one is there to see it happen."
Woodruff, 45, says he plans to continue covering the story in future ABC News specials. He's not worried about remaining objective on an issue close to his heart.
"It's impossible to remain objective on many stories, but I've always reported what I thought was truthful, no matter how I got the story," he says. "A lot of questions need to be asked about what is going on with the treatment of soldiers who come back injured."
Ellie
Updated 2/27/2007 9:10 AM ET
By Peter Johnson, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — E-mail pjohnson@usatoday.com
Spend some time talking to ABC's Bob Woodruff, and it's nearly impossible to tell that he was almost been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq on Jan. 29, 2006, and sustained such severe brain trauma that it required removing part of his skull.
"I'm lucky," Woodruff told reporters Monday in his first interview since he was wounded. "This turned out a lot better than it could have."
His face, some scars aside, looks about the same as it did when he co-anchored World News Tonight for just 27 days, until the 28th nearly cost him his life as he rode atop a tank in Taji, north of Baghdad.
Woodruff says he still has difficulty remembering certain words, but as he fields questions, his mind — he's a lawyer — seems as sharp as ever. That prompts questions of whether he'll ever anchor World News Tonight again.
ABC News president David Westin doesn't rule it out. "Every time there has been a juncture in Bob's progress, he has exceeded it. I think we would be really foolish to underestimate Bob. I think we should assume the best."
But Westin says he will not send Woodruff back to Iraq because Woodruff would be more vulnerable, having already suffered severe trauma. "It would be the height of recklessness."
Woodruff says he's optimistic about his future. "When I woke up, I couldn't remember a single state in this country. I couldn't remember my brothers' names, and I couldn't remember my two youngest daughters — not just their names but their existence.
"You can see the change from then to now is significant, but there's still more to do," says Woodruff, who has gone from five to six days a week of therapy down to one. "Will I get to 100%? Probably unlikely, but maybe if I get to somewhere in the 90s, that would be pretty damn good."
Such are the wonders of modern trauma-treatment techniques as practiced by U.S. military doctors on Woodruff and his cameraman, Doug Vogt, after they were severely injured while reporting on American efforts to hand over military responsibilities to the Iraqis.
But many others — from soldiers who also have suffered severe head traumas from bullets and bombs in Iraq to their families now coping with those injuries — have not been so lucky.
In an emotional ABC special Tuesday night, To Iraq and Back (10 ET/PT), Woodruff reports on what happened to him, on his recovery and on the severe care crisis facing thousands of injured soldiers who have suffered brain injuries and are now under the care of the U.S. government.
"It was very important to me for the story to be about others who had gone through the same thing," Woodruff says. This type of severe head injury "happens to Marines and soldiers every day, but a lot of times it won't get covered (by the media) because no one is there to see it happen."
Woodruff, 45, says he plans to continue covering the story in future ABC News specials. He's not worried about remaining objective on an issue close to his heart.
"It's impossible to remain objective on many stories, but I've always reported what I thought was truthful, no matter how I got the story," he says. "A lot of questions need to be asked about what is going on with the treatment of soldiers who come back injured."
Ellie