Update on Bob Woodruff:Iraq injury left newsman battling for words, others

[n2doc]

Iraq injury left newsman battling for words, others
Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, March 26, 2007

Bob Woodruff is in the middle of a lunch conversation in San Francisco's Chinatown, trying to find his words again.
"Belgrade ... was the capital of this country," Woodruff says, eyes narrowing, voice trailing off. The ABC News anchor, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after an improvised explosive device hit him while he was in Iraq 15 months ago, turns to his wife for a prompt. But she has stepped away from the table. Help arrives from another lunch mate.
Yugoslavia?
"Yes, yes. Yugoslavia," Woodruff says, his eyes brightening, confidence resuming to his voice. "Can tell you everything about that region. Covered the war there. Kosovo, Bosnia ..." Another lunch mate ramps up the stakes. "What's the capital of Slovenia?" "Ljubljana," Bob Woodruff says.
Lee Woodruff overhears this as she returns to the table, and exchanges high fives with everybody. "Whoa!" she exclaims.
Another found word. Another step in Woodruff's road to recovery. Another example of the mysterious and miraculous way the human brain can heal. Earlier in the day, during a live radio interview in San Francisco, Woodruff found the phrase "asymmetrical war," which used to roll out of his mouth while reporting from Afghanistan and Iraq.
This week the Woodruffs end their eight-city tour for "In an Instant," the book they co-wrote about Bob's harrowing recovery. Now, after doing the chat-show circuit following the broadcast of Woodruff's ABC documentary "To Iraq and Back," their lives will settle down a bit.

Much of what happens next for their family -- and in Bob Woodruff's career -- depends on how many words he finds.
The Woodruffs know that his recovery from one of the signature wounds of the Iraq War is anomalous; for that, they are endlessly grateful. And, Woodruff acknowledges, he feels a bit guilty. Guilty that he's recovered so quickly compared with GIs lying in beds in faraway rural towns. Guilty for what he put his family through. Guilty that he's getting so much attention for making a powerful TV documentary about his brain injury.
more:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/26/DDGFHOQO341.DTL


Bob Woodruff and his wife, Lee, in San Francisco last week, the sixth stop in an eight-city tour promoting their co-written book, "In an Instant." Chronicle photo by Michael Macor


Bob Woodruff with his daughter Cathryn (left) and son Mack two days after he woke from a coma. Photo courtesy of the Woodruff Family



Bob Woodruff, co-anchor of ABC's "World News News Tonight," is seen in this undated publicity photo. ABC photo by Lou Rocco via Reuters

[Old and In the Way]

1. Just amazing what reconstructive surgery can do today.

And the mind can be equally amazing, rewiring itself. Given the severity of his wounds, he is one lucky man.

[blm]

4. This is a hard thing to make people understand, too.

The 94 earthquake was very violent in my neighborhood near the epicenter. I lost some of my vocabulary and went from having a near-perfect memory to not knowing that the big white thing in the kitchen had a name - refrigerator. I lived like that for almost two years.

My memory is pretty darn good now, way better than most, but it will never be photographic as it was before the earthquake.

All kudos to Woodruff - he's recovering remarkably.

[Burried News]

2. I cannot imagine the effort and courage it took for this family

to get him back to this point. They and Bob are remarkable people.
His injury was worse than I had imagined; his survival seems a miracle.

[Missy Vixen]

3. They're appearing in Seattle tonight

It's also my husband's birthday, so unfortunately, we won't be able to make it.

I'd love to hear what they both have to say tonight in Town Hall.

Julie

[n2doc]

5. tuesday kick n/t