ABC News has just announced that anchor Bob Woodruff will be returning to TV in his first broadcast since being severely injured in January by a roadside bomb while covering the war in Iraq. In previous blogs I had reported that there was speculation that it may be a while before Woodruff returned to his duties at the network (anchoring, reporting or otherwise). But, it looks like the news is better than first believed and in fact ABC has released a statement which details plans for a primetime special to air in spring 2007. In it the former “World News” anchor will tell the story of the January attack and his long road to recovery.
In addition, the network says Woodruff will also report on “efforts by military medical teams to save the lives of injured soldiers, and how those soldiers and their families cope.”
And, in a deal which includes the efforts of his wife, Random House announced today that Woodruff and his wife Lee would be writing a memoir documenting their experiences of the past year. The Woodruff’s have four children who will also be included in the upcoming book. The publishing house says the Woodruff’s memoir will focus on how Lee got the news that her husband had been injured and what it has been like to ride the emotional roller coaster on their journey to get their home life back to “normal.”
While the Woodruff’s hope that in writing the memoir readers may gain inspiration from their plight, they also note that a portion of the proceeds from the book will go to organizations helping members of the armed forces recovering from traumatic brain injuries.
You’ll remember that it was just a few weeks after Woodruff was named co-anchor – with Elizabeth Vargas – of “World News” that a bomb went off near the convoy with which he was traveling in Iraq, almost fatally injuring him and cameraman Doug Vogt. It was because of his life threatening injuries that he was forced to step down from his “World News” post and, after months of in-patient treatment, finally went home in April.
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