Lee Woodruff is a freelance writer and public relations executive. She and her husband, Bob Woodruff, are the authors of In an Instant: A Family’s Journey of Love and Healing, The New York Times best-selling book about their family’s difficult journey during Bob’s critical injury in Iraq while anchoring a broadcast for ABC News.

Lee and Bob have also established the Bob Woodruff Family Fund for Traumatic Brain Injury to raise money to assist members of the military with cognitive rehabilitation and other care needs. Editor-in-Chief Gary Barg’s interview with Lee sheds a light on this dedicated care advocate.

Gary Barg: It has been a few years since Bob was injured in Iraq. How is he doing?

Lee Woodruff: Bob is doing amazing and his recovery is miraculous; but as miraculous as it is, it was also hard work, as anybody knows who is caregiving someone or going through any kind of rehabilitation or recovery.  It is day-to-day and some days are better than other days.

GB:  How are you doing?

LW:  I am doing really well, but I think that we all have our own form of post-traumatic stress disorder; especially when something happens instantly, like Bob’s injury. That changes your life and sort of upends your faith in the order of things in the universe.  There are moments like if he goes out for milk or something and he hasn’t come back in 20 minutes, my first thought is, What is wrong?  That is not the way I used to think.

GB:  Has it affected Bob's relationship with the kids, too?

LW:  My kids are much more empathetic and wonderful human beings in the wake of this. Children who go through this kind of tragedy understand how much more precious life is; but my daughter, who is very close to him, gets worried as well.  She has been indelibly marked by the whole experience. Children who are in this situation learn lessons earlier than, as a parent, one would like them to.

GB:  Have you found that there can be a kind of joy and connectivity to come out of a caregiving experience like this?

LW:  Absolutely; and laughter, too. Laughter was a huge part of our ability to heal.  Bob and I share a really similar sense of humor, a healthy sense of humor. We drew on that heavily to keep him cheered and in good spirits because that was a very clear tie to his recovery and how much will he had to keep pushing forward, especially in the months when he was in extreme pain.