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In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing

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In An Instant is a poignant and powerful book of love, of war, of hope, of recovery and of life. It is truly hard to find an accolade this book does not deserve. It is about Bob Woodruff and and his awful injury while covering the Iraqi war, a month after being promoted to co-anchor replacing Peter Jennings. A man at the apex of his career, who loves doing what he does, a noted world traveler and correspondent and, In An Instant, his and his family's life is quite literally blown to pieces. But it is also book very much about Lee and Bob's marriage, from their first date, and one that would have been worth reading even without the trauma suffered covering the war. Lee writes wonderfully about the career risks Bob made, and she lovingly supported, as he went from a lucrative law career to pursue his passion that he developed for journalism and the rush of covering news events, large and small. Tiananmen Square to a train wreck in Northern California.

This wonderfully written book was done with his wife, Lee, clearly a very capable writer herself and mother of their four children. The construction on the book is cleverly done with its movement back and forth in time, but never confusing to the reader and always done to develop a point or complete a story. Written collaberatively, it is part Lee, descriptive and emotional, holding a family together and, part Bob, ever the facts based journalist. What began as a journal being kept by Lee for Bob, knowing he would want to know what happened while he was in a coma, became this book, appropriately subtitled, "A Family's Journey of Love and Healing".

The recovery of Mr. Woodruff is clearly nothing short of miraculous in an age where we don't believe in miracles. But the strength of his entire family, centered around his wife Lee and his four children, and his own desire to live for these many wonderful reasons is very clear. This book is nothing sappy but clearly heartwarming and, at times, very scary as no one can read it and not wonder how quickly their own lives can change, even without putting oneself in the dangerous situations our journalists do every day in these war ravaged countries.

Readers will start thinking they know and like Bob Woodruff. They will come away loving his family, especially his wife, and very capable writer, Lee.

Lee Woodruff questions her husband's physician " Will he still love me?" Yes, his phyiscian answers. I have not had a patient who didn't love the people he loved before."

'In An Instant' is more than a poignant review of the year in the life of Lee and Bob Woodruff. This book is a reflection of their thoughts, prayers, experiences and day to day life. Bob Woodruff, ABC journalist, was in Iraq to report on the war and was critically injured. Half of his brain, the left half was inujred and that portion of his skull was removed to decrease the swelling. He was operated on at once and flown to Germany to be stabilized and then to Bethesda, Maryland with his critical brain injury. It took 5 weeks of constant care and love by his family and medical team before he awoke. Lee tells us about her struggles and the family issues and the constant anxiety of watching her husband fight for his life. At one point at the end of the five weeks, Lee got into bed with Bob amidst his tubes and lines and told him he needed to fight, they needed him. Two days later she walked into the Intensive Care Unit,and he was sitting up in bed, and said, "Sweetie, Where ya been?" From that time the fight began in earnest for Bob who had suffered a traumatic brain injury to renew his life.

Lee Woodruff, the real hero of the story, gives us an honest, compelling look at what life was like for her. Trying to find time for four children, her husband who was crtically ill, and then recovering and balancing what she needed to do to keep her body and soul together. She talks often of the other families she met, the Iraq and Afghanistan war wounded. When Bob finally did wake up and his rehab and recovery began in earnest,life became busier and she had to become more resilient.

Bob Woodruff during his rehabilitation became involved in the lives of other men and women who had suffered as he did. He will continue to follow the TBI (traumatic brain injured) soldiers and attempt to assist in whatever manner he can. After his recovery he needed to go through more surgery to replace the piece of skull on the left side of his head. Today he looks as he did before his injury. He has had a remarkable recovery. He still has times when he cannot remember some words. He and Lee visited the Intensive Care Unit at Bethesda to thank his caregiving team. Everyone was overwhelmed. Bob was only the fifth person out of hundreds who had recovered enough to come back and visit.

Lee tells an amazing story about Bruce Springsteen and Bob. Bob loves Bruce Springsteen and has his music playing full blast at all times. The day Lee climbed into bed with Bob she told him that if he got better Bruce Springsteen would come and play for him. A few days after Bob woke up he stood up and said "I gotta get one of those string things, a guitar. So I can play with Bruce when he comes.". Oh, oh, Lee thought, Bruce is not coming, but how did Bob hear this?" It is said that people in comas can register voices, and we have an example right here with Bob. Come On Bruce Springsteen, go and play for Bob and the wounded Vets.

Life goes on, we all know that. Disaster, critical injuries, surgery, critical care for 5 weeks or more and then awakening. Followed by recovery and the long journey home. 'In An Instant' life changes and will never again be the same. Lee and Bob Woodruff have shown us the courage and strength it takes to perservere.
Highly recommended. prisrob 3-01-07

It is spiritually uplifting to see beautiful people behave in a beautiful way. Bob Woodruff's wife, Lee, in trying to assess what is now possible after her husband's terrible brain injury asks the doctor, "But will he still love me?" It is a moment of substance in a world where image too often passes for it. This is more than a book of recovery. Bob Woodruff's setback in life seems to be more than that. It seems to have widened his horizons and connected him to his fellow man in ways that he says he could not previously have imagined.

Many people think that happiness is somehow caused by circumstances other than their own thinking. This is not true. Lottery winners, plucked from otherwise disastrous fates by Lady Luck, seldom maintain their new sense of well-being. And normal people, overwhelmed with sudden and unexpected tragedy, can regain their inner happiness despite grievous losses.

I am a board-certified cognitive behavioral therapist specializing in depression. I have seen many different reactions to tragedy among those coming to my office seeking help. When you see someone calmly accept what fate has just handed them, when you watch them immediately seek to make something worthwhile out of their new day instead of vainly looking back and wishing for their former life, when you notice how they steadfastly refuse to entertain a negative option, you can't help but be elevated right along with them. They inspire you to hope that when your own turn to suffer comes along, perhaps you too can prevail as these heroes who have gone ahead to show the way. This is not a book about recovery, this is a book about trancendence. A. B. Curtiss, author of BRAINSWITCH OUT OF DEPRESSION

This is an amazing story of love, courage, and recovery. As the conflict between the Shias and Sunnis rages in Iraq and multitude of men and women lose everything or almost everything in an instant, Bob and Lee show us that there is hope. Lee's courage to deal with the new realities of a husband injured, in comma, and possibility of a lifetime pain and suffering is truly inspiring. Their love for each other and Bob's perseverance and hard work to get his old self back gives us all encouragement to not to give up in the face of insurmountable odds.

I became interested in this book, after hearing Bob and his wife speak about the experience on a television show. I found their down to earth and honest testimony about their experience in the wake of a tragedy to be both inspiring and moving, especially since Bob refused to center only on HIS experience but connected it to those still in Iraq, facing great dangers today. Taking it beyond his own experience, he discusses how many have suffered equally severe (or worse) injuries than he did. He speaks about what can be done to help them.

In Woodruff's case, his work as a television journalist was shattered when, while covering the Iraq war, an explosive device went off, greatly damaging his brain, leaving questions about whether he'd ever be able to live - let alone function as a father, husband or employee - ever again. He went through a slow recovery, one faced with so many unknowns.

Listening to both husband and wife on television, it was clear that Woodruff has come a long, long way (he jokingly noted how he'd just learned to say "belt buckle" again) but, underneath the banter, it was clear just how arduous and emotionally difficult a struggle this has been. And yet, in spite of it all, the family managed to handle it with humor, resiliance and a great deal of hope and faith.
The whole family rose to the challenge, with the kids helping their father regain his abilities, with courage and an upbeat attitude (as often as possible). They'd use flash cards to help him relearn words -or simply say word and phrases until he repeated them successfully, giving him a high five when he did.

The book doesn't just focus on the present but is a memoir of the Woodruff's history, from first meeting to the births of their children. They seemed to have it all and sometimes it can be difficult for those who feel blessed to deal with adversity...but not in this case.

This is an inspiring and heartfelt memoir, worth reading for anyone who wonders how to cope with great difficulties in life - or for anyone facing challenges right now.

Lee and Bob Woodruff were a poster couple for success. However, "in an instant" they became a terrified, grieving wife and a mortally wounded man whose gripping story was played out in a fishbowl of headlines and public sympathy.

Lee was a powerful public relations executive married to a news anchor who had risen in the competitive world of broadcast journalism like a shooting star. His career sometimes put a strain on their marriage, separating him many times and for long periods from Lee and their four children. But the couple's love was durable and overcame a number of obstacles. In his biggest leap up the ladder of achievement, Bob was named co-anchor of ABC's "World News Tonight" with Elizabeth Vargas in December 2005, replacing Peter Jennings.

Bob's star fell and nearly burned out when he was embedded with troops in Iraq barely a month later. His armored vehicle was hit by a nearby improvised explosive device (IED), and he and a cameraman were injured. Bob's head was bwoodruffed by hundreds of rocks of various sizes that broke his skull like a melon, and one large rock lodged in his throat. At the moment of impact, Bob was blessed with a vision of white light and a sense of pervading peace. But soon afterwards he awoke, aware of spitting blood and feeling someone touching his head. He recalled being relieved when he learned that the cameraman was fine.

Then followed the slow and agonizing healing process. IN AN INSTANT is written in tandem by Bob and Lee. We learn that being at the bedside and in the waiting room can be as painful as lying on the operating table. Lee describes feeling grateful that she loved her husband, and praying and working for his recovery. As anyone knows who has ever dealt with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), it's excruciating to watch someone who used to be intelligent and on top of his/her game struggling to remember the word for "bird" or "lettuce." Bob talks about how simple words would float by, but he just couldn't catch them. He had to learn how to speak again, and his balance was affected by the loss of that large section of cranium.

Lee and Bob know how lucky they are. They had many allies and advantages to speed Bob's recuperation. He had cranial reconstruction and every necessary therapy. Above all, he had a caring wife who oversaw his treatments --- though she was often in a private hell of worry.

Seeing soldiers with injuries similar to his own has made Bob crucially aware of how much he has regained and how great the loss can be when the brain is affected. Bob has improved sufficiently so that he now feels like a father and husband again. Though his career is still an open question, he participated in producing a documentary called "To Iraq and Back," which highlights his extraordinary journey and the suffering of soldiers with TBI.

--- Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott

Lee and Bob Woodruff survived an unimaginable ordeal, and they are to be commended for their willingness to share their experience in this book.
As Rock Hudson became the face of AIDS and Christopher Reeve the face of paralysis, Bob Woodruff has become the face of traumatic brain injury. Bob Woodruff, as a reporter, is in a unique position to explain the ramifications of this type of injury which is more common than one would expect. His recovery has to give hope to countless families struggling to cope with similar injuries.
The long period of recovery takes its toll on an entire family, and Lee Woodruff's concerns for the couple's four children is evident throughout the book. Most poignantly she recalls her son literally trying to fill his father's shoes.
This is an inspiring book with, thankfully, a very happy ending.

I have just finished a very thought-provoking book "In an Instant" by Lee and Bob Woodruff.

He was the ABC News reporter who was seriously injured in Iraq last year, and the book chronicles his recovery from that traumatic injury as well as the story of its impact on his family.

While there were many parts in the book that were touching, heartbreaking and encouraging, there was also a sense throughout of candor...a true sense of recollecting the very nature of caring, of life and of love.

These were not, are not, perfect individuals; instead, these are people who are struggling with unforeseen tragedy, who break down because they have reached their limits, who in their frailty and weaknesses become friends that we can relate to and 'feel' with.

There is no pretense made to glorify or gloss over pain, grief, anger, resentment, hurt...there is the simple, gentle act of sharing life stories the way people have for countless generations, for in doing so, one may glimpse the universality of experiencing life, of dealing with pain, but also of realizing wisdom through the awful grace of God. That result is perhaps the one aspect of life that makes it ultimately worth all the living that is put into it.

Along with `The Long Road Home" by Martha Raddatz, this book discusses the Iraqi conflict in terms of immediate, personal loss. Too often, issues are presented in overly broad, general terms. While there is nothing wrong with a general overview, there is the risk of losing sight of the individual tree (and its value) for the forest. Politicians have made this war one where the individual cost is not as immediately noticeable as it would be if this was a war where sacrifices were expected of all, not just those in the military.

The failures in the military post-recovery infrastructure that was highlighted in the current Walter Reed controversy have also been covered by Bob Woodruff, which brought to mind his comment made in the book: "It was always my dream to go to the places where the important stories were unfolding, to dig up as much information as possible and present it in such a way that the American public might better understand what is happening in the world, within and beyond our borders."

Lee speaks about this sacrifice while also reaffirming the power of love and faith: "You can't make deals, barter or trade to spare one another. You can only do your damnedest to fathom the power and simple beauty of 'for better or for worse'. You can hold faith and hope in equal measures in your heart, and in the end you can teach yourself how best to endure and then to survive and overcome. There is a Chinese saying that compares the human spirit's capacity to bear the weight of hardship to a simple bamboo stalk. It can carry a far greater burden than the naked eye can see."

These voices are exactly what are needed to make the point that soldiers and their families deserve the best of support. That support should not involve armaments alone, but a sound reason to represent us around the world, and that helping soldiers after their service should be as high a priority as anything else. That the latter situation exists is perhaps the greatest reason why books like these need to be read by as many people as possible, in order to remember the value in personally being aware and involved in our present existence.

I couldn't wait to read this amazing story - and hence spent several days hooked on every chapter, every word. Even after finishing the book I spent alot of time just thinking about the journey and struggles these two remarkable people shared with us - not to mention their four children. I have come away from their story with a new awareness of commitment and family love. And, I have also been awakened to the trials of the military families facing TBI. Rumor that Bob Woodruff should be a front runner to receive an Emmy award in Journalism for the ABC special "To Iraq and Back"? Seems like a fitting tribute. Kudos to Lee and Bob. We can all learn something from their marriage.

A Review of "In An Instant" - Lee and Bob Woodruff Tell The Story of Their Odyssey

I review a lot of books in The White Rhino Report. I recognize that the readership of this Blog is an astonishingly diverse collection of individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds, professions, educational concentrations, geographic locations, political perspectives and worldviews. As a result, I seldom make blanket recommendations. On this occasion, I choose to make an exception. This book, "In An Instant," is a must read! Order it on Amazon.com or run out to the nearest library or bookstore.

The friend who first made me aware of this moving memoir is a hardened military veteran -a West Point graduate with a law degree. He would hardly be labeled a sentimentalist, and yet here was his description of reading what Lee and Bob Woodruff have chosen to share of their "Family's Journey of Love and Healing":

"I finished the Woodruff's book. I wept through most of it, having been one of the masses kept in the dark except for Lee's occasional generic `Bob is doing OK' emails. It certainly filled in the details on the timelines."

I had a similar response in reading the Woodruff's saga. At several points along the way, I had to stop reading and wipe my eyes so that I could once again focus on the words on the page.

Tom Brokaw calls "In an Instant": "a loving, terrifying, and ultimately inspirational tale of the perils of war, the demands of network journalism, and the strengths of a great marriage. We're all the richer for their courage, their commitment to each other, and their willingness to share the many lessons of their ordeal." Diane Sawyer describes the book as "a passionate love story filled with hope for everyone who has ever wondered how you make it through another day."

Many of you are aware of the basic facts. Just days after being named co-anchor for ABC World News Tonight, replacing the late Peter Jennings, Bob Woodruff was imbedded as a journalist with U.S. and Iraqi security forces near Taji, Iraq. The tank he was riding in was attacked when a roadside bomb was detonated, and he suffered TBI -traumatic brain injury, one of the most common injuries suffered by our troops when IED's (Improvised Explosive Devices) are detonated in their vicinity. He lay in a coma for several weeks, and has undergone many months of extensive rehabilitation.

Much of Bob Woodruff's treatment and rehabilitation took place in a shroud of privacy - a remarkable achievement for so public a figure. Lee and Bob Woodruff have chosen to lift the veil and share intimate details of what it was like for them and for their family to wade through the deep waters of his initial injury and subsequent struggle to live and then to achieve some sense of a return to "normalcy." This tale is a modern "Odyssey." A "warrior of the airwaves" leaves home to report on a war, is grievously wounded on the battlefield, and struggles to make it back home to his family - alive and able to resume his role as husband and father. Lee Woodruff is a latter day Penelope, fighting to keep her home, her hopes and her family together while keeping vigil over her comatose husband.

It is clear that Lee and Bob have chosen to share their story - to "imbed themselves," if you will - into the consciousness of those who are willing to read their story, in order to shine the light of public awareness on the plight of the many veterans who have also suffered from TBI:

"Because of our journey over the past year with traumatic brain injury (TBI), we felt compelled to make something positive out of something so negative. Goodness and healing needed to emerge from such a devastating event.

Our immediate and extended family became committed to helping the members of the military who have suffered brain injuries from the widespread use of improvised explosive devices, many of whom are not receiving appropriate cognitive rehabilitation for whatever reason. An overwhelmed Veterans Administration hospital system, lacking funding, and a dearth of professionals trained in TBI in areas outside of larger cities have all meant that the very people who need them most are unable to access services at a critical juncture in their healing.

We established the Bob Woodruff Family Fund for Traumatic Brain Injury, administered by the Brain Injury Association of America, a twenty-five-year-old national organization dedicated to research, information, advocacy, and support for this silent and misunderstood affliction. Brain injury affects an average of 1.4 million Americans a year." (Page 283)

In the first few weeks after he suffered his injuries, Bob's family - and his team of medical professionals - had no way of knowing if he would survive. And if he did survive, they would not know how much brain function he would have left until he woke up and began responding to the world around him. For weeks, he lay in a coma, fighting off infection and the effects of the multiple traumas that his body and mind had suffered. The first glimpse of hope that Lee shares is particularly poignant. It begins with a description of their daughter, Cathryn - Cackie - visiting her Daddy in the hospital while he was still comatose:

"'Daddy, let's do a kissing contest,' Cath said now into Bob's ear. Her expression brightened as she looked at him. She was on familiar territory and was relaxing, getting used to her father's new face. It had been one of their bedtime rituals on the phone, when Bob was out of town. Both parties would kiss into the receiver as long as they could, and the first one to give up was the loser.

Cathryn lifted up her head to Bob's cheek and began to kiss it. I noticed with gratitude that one of the nurses had recently shaved him, leaving his face smooth and white on the right side. Looking at the two of them so close, I felt the reverberation of our daughter's heart. I saw strength and sorrow and so much uncertainty. As her mother, I wanted to have all the answers for as long as time would permit. I wanted to be able to hang the moon in that way that parents do before kids realize their fallibility. But right now there was nothing I could tell my daughter about her father with any certainty at all. I felt not omnipotent but impotent, vulnerable and small.

But then, as I looked at Bob, I saw the most incredible thing. It was a sight that provided a jolt of hope to last for the next few weeks. A small tear was running down from the corner of his eye, his good eye, on the side where Cathryn was kissing him.

`He's crying!' I yelled to no one in particular. `He hears Cathryn's voice and he's crying.' The nurse came around, roused by my calls. It was, to this point, my only living proof that Bob was there, inside that Frankenstein head and swollen body. The nurse would back me up later, when I told the doctors. Cathryn and I had seen it. And it was enough for the two of us." (Pages 121-122)

Lee goes on to describe a conversation she had with one of Bob's doctors about the prospect of Bob having to deal with PTSD - post-traumatic stress disorder - as part of a rehabilitation regimen once his acute medical crises had been overcome. Their discussion has broad implications for the many women and men returning home to us from the battlefield:

"'Bob has seen a lot of human misery with what he does,' I explained [to Dr. M.]. `He has always been able to come home and shake it off. He saw mass graves in Kosovo, death in Afghanistan and Iraq, and unfathomable sorrow in Indonesia after the tsunami. Doesn't his ability to have processed this in a healthy way mean he may escape post-traumatic stress disorder?'

`I wish I could tell you it worked that way,' said Dr. M. `Actually, research shows that the more trauma a person has been through, the more they have seen, the worse the PTSD is. The cumulative effect appears to make the person more susceptible.'

All that collective human misery coalesced into one brain, I thought with a chill. There was the child's leg Bob found near a mass grave in Kosovo; the blood of Jesus Suarez del Solar, the marine in Bob's embed division who had stepped on an unexploded U.S. bomb during the 2003 invasion. There was a whole city's worth of devastation in New Orleans, and there were bodies on the beaches in Banda Aceh two weeks after the tsunami, so bloated they were pitchforked into a truck bed. Bob had a mighty good library of human misery inside is head, I thought. And now, I had learned, all that footage would be his worst enemy." (Page 166)

One of the most important and sweeping contributions that Lee and Bob Woodruff make through sharing their story is to make readers aware of the scope of issues that face the thousands of veterans returning from the war with TBI. The following catalog of symptoms, complications and treatment requirements is instructive, sobering and overwhelming:

"'Okay, Dr. M,' I said, pulling the tissue box closer to me, `I need to hear it. Tell me all the things we could be dealing with here. I think it's time for me to know.'

Dr. M began to run through the litany of possibilities. Essentially, the main categories in the brain for cognitive damage were behavioral, social, spatial, speech and language, and executive function, the more logical part of the brain that controls how we order our lives and organize our activities. With a blast injury, it was hard to assess what was or wasn't damaged because an explosion caused the brain to slosh around against the skull. This sheared off millions of neurons and caused damage that wouldn't be revealed until Bob woke up. Even then it could take time. Sometimes the differences were subtle - slightly impaired judgment or cognitive ability, perhaps - and sometimes they were more grave, like major personality differences. One of the greatest frustrations with a head injury is that while the person may seem just fine to others, things are profoundly changed inside. These patients - with significant but outwardly subtle damage - were called `the walking wounded.' Back home in America they would be a haunting legacy of the war in Iraq." (Pages 212-213)

It is precisely because of their all-too-keen awareness of this haunting legacy that Bob and Lee Woodruff have chosen to share their story - in the form of this book, a national tour of media outlets and book signing events, and through the formation of the Bob Woodruff Family Fund for Traumatic Brain Injury.

For the sentient and sensitive person, the reading of this book must evoke a response - a response at the level of emotion and at the level of action. It is not enough for us to read and to feel empathy - for the Woodruffs and for the countless others who are not in a position to tell their own stories of TBI. That empathy needs to lead us to tangible action of some kind. I urge you to click on the link below and explore the fund's Website. I encourage you to make a financial contribution. I urge you to consider doing some research and volunteering to visit someone with TBI being treated in a rehab facility near you.

The action I have chosen to take is to donate a portion of revenues earned by White Rhino Partners to the Woodruff's Fund.

Odysseus has returned home from the battlefield and is recovering from his wounds. Let us attend his tale and respond accordingly.

Al

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