ABC's Bob Woodruff sheds light on brain injuries after bomb blast Published On Fri May 20 2011 Tara

Walton Toronto Star.

Bob Woodruff came back after a serious head injury to continue reporting the news. Bob Woodruff was a month into his new gig he was the ABCs nightly news host in January 2006. He was reporting from Iraq he was with the U.S. army when a bomb blew up beneath his vehicle.

The bomb fractured his skull he was left with brain injuries. Just 13 months later, Woodruff returned to air - now he reports from across the world. He spoke to the Toronto Star. What did you have to do to return to your work after the injury? Its a long road. It takes a lot longer than you expect it to. When I was hit, I was unconscious for the next 36 days. I had to go into rehabilitation to get my memory back. I suffer to this day with pretty serious aphasia. Theres a lot of words and names that are difficult for me. I still get very tired - I cant be up three nights in a row like before. I still cant read and write as fast as before. When I woke up, I couldnt even read a whole sentence I forgot the first half. Attention has been very difficult. Have the injuries changed what you news you cover? I dont cover wars anymore. I went to North Korea, I went to Sudan. I went up to the North Pole to report on Prince Harry and the work with British injured in the wars. Theres all sorts of different stories I do now. I dont do where theyre firing bullets anymore, or blowing up bombs. Whys that?

I dont want to take that risk again. I put my kids and my wife through that for so long. I dont have permission from my wife to do that anymore! You did go back to Iraq, in 2009. Was that a difficult decision? I wanted to go over there to see some of the people who saved so many lives there. Thats one thing I want to do see and tell the story of those who are in Iraq and Afghanistan. I want to make sure their stories are told. What was it like to watch reporters in the danger zones in the Middle East? Ive been to the Middle East so many times. All of us were quite shocked by how successful its been for the protesters. Whether its successful or not in the longer term, thats the big question. For journalists? I think they have to go. Journalists do it because its the kind of work that they like doing. Its satisfying to do and they understand the importance of doing it. How did you feel about the news of bin Ladens death? I think about that. Hes the pebble that was thrown into the lake and the waves went on in circles from there. I was a victim of that. But it wasnt just him. It goes beyond Osama bin Laden.

You have focused on brain injuries from the wars. Now its a major issue in hockey and football. Why is the topic still in the news? Theres a good thing out of the war - we have improved our treatment and knowledge of injuries. About 1.6 million Americans a year have brain injuries. About 360,000 have posttraumatic stress disorder. My injury was obvious - a lot of people have brain injuries and it is not obvious this is a relatively new thing.