Most of us probably remember the year when all the news anchors for the major television networks changed. At the beginning of that year, 2005, we watched the same men who had anchored the "big three" networks for years—Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, and Peter Jennings. In the space of a year, they were gone. Dan Rather of CBS was fired Tom Brokaw of NBC retired. Peter Jennings of ABC died of lung cancer.

ABC replaced Peter Jennings with co-anchors—Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff. They planned to have one anchor always reporting from Washington or New York while the other would be reporting breaking news somewhere in the world. The executives at ABC believed this would bring immediacy to the news. Also, both Vargas and Woodruff were young and attractive and would allow ABC to reach out to a younger demographic.

The co-anchor experiment lasted 55 days. While on assignment reporting from Iraq, the armored vehicle in which Woodruff was riding was struck by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). Both Woodruff and his cameraman were wounded. Woodruff suffered severe injuries to the brain, face and neck. The fact that he survived the attack is amazing. Furthermore, he has returned to reporting, which is nothing short of a miracle. In their memoir "In an Instant: A Family’s Journey of Love and Healing", Lee and Bob Woodruff recall the attack, its aftermath and describe how it changed their lives—in an instant.

This is Lee’s story as much as her husbands. Lee kept a journal during the months of Bob’s recovery, and she draws on it to tell their story. The Woodruffs explore their courtship, family life and Bob’s rise to the pinnacle of broadcast journalism; however, it is the attack and Bob’s recovery that captures the reader’s attention.

Lee Woodruff and her four children were vacationing at Disney World when she received a phone call from David Westin, President of ABC News. It was early on a Sunday morning. Lee reacted immediately. "The president of ABC News does not make social calls to employees’ wives at 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning, even a co-anchor’s wife. I licked my lips and swallowed. My mouth was dry."

Westin told Lee that Bob had been wounded in Iraq. Trying to comprehend what she was hearing, Lee asked if her husband was alive.

"Yes, Lee. Bob is alive, but we believe he may have taken shrapnel to the brain," Westin responded.

Indeed, shrapnel ripped into Woodruff’s brain, his face, his neck and his shoulder. To save his life, a combat surgeon removed a section of his skull, which allowed his brain to swell without further damage to it. If that wasn’t bad enough, a rock lodged in his neck within a fraction of rupturing Woodruff’s carotid artery. His injuries were so severe that he would spend weeks in a drug-induced coma. Three years later he still suffers the affects of expressive aphasia, an inability to remember words, resulting from his wounds.

This dramatic story of love and survival sheds light on Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), the signature injury of the Iraq War. Bob and Lee Woordruff now champion the cause of veterans who return from Iraq with damaged brains. In fact, they donate a percentage of the proceeds from their book to the Bob Woodruff Family Fund for Traumatic Brain Injury. "In an Instant" is a moving book well worth your time and is available at the Scottsbluff Public Library.

:: Go to Library Home ::

Scottsbluff Public Library :: 1809 Third Avenue :: Scottsbluff, NE 69361 :: 308-630-6250