“We will be caring for thousands for years to come for whose quality of life has been greatly compromised” says reporter Bob Woodruff, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq. (From an interview published on Borders.com)
In December of 2005, Bob Woodruff seemed to have it all. He had just been named co-anchor of ABC’s “World News Tonight.” In January of 2006, Woodruff traveled to Iraq. While there reporting on U.S. and Iraqi security, Woodruff was seriously injured by a roadside bomb which struck his vehicle near Taji, Iraq. In February 2007, a mere 13 months after his traumatic injury, Bob Woodruff returned to the airwaves with a documentary called “To Iraq and Back,” chronicling his traumatic brain injury (TBI), along with the challenges facing thousands of wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who are now left with life-changing disabilities.
Bob and his wife Lee also co-authored and shared their family’s personal experience in an incredibly moving book titled “In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing.” Through his own experience and miraculous recovery, Woodruff has given a voice to our returning veterans, many of whom are coming home with traumatic brain injuries, but are often not receiving the level of care that was available to Woodruff.
“I believe the war,” said Woodruff in a recent interview, “is an extremely important story to tell and I believe that journalists have to be there.”
“The story that is not being told is the story of traumatic brain injury among the troops returning home.” The sheer number of these ‘walking wounded’ is far higher than is being reported.
“Battlefield medicine,” he continues, “has evolved to a level where we are able to save lives through real modern medical miracles. We can get the wounded back to the states within days. We are saving people that would have died in previous wars. There are so many IEDs and so many exposed to blasts.”
But even being near the concussive force of a blast can cause great internal disruption in the way the brain functions as neurons are sheered due to the full force of the blast. These men are called the walking wounded because the scars are invisible to the outside. But on the inside these men and women are damaged goods; their cognitive functions are off, their judgment, ability to concentrate, reason or perform simple tasks. Even their ability to interact with others is often changed and many are much more quick to anger after a brain injury. Often times a person's fundamental personality changes and it can be devastating to families as well.
“My own injuries and journey [has] given me an access that I would not have had as a journalist looking in from the outside. The documentary is a look at my own journey with traumatic brain injury but also that of other soldiers. It is the real cost of war on the home front.” Woodruff’s experience in Iraq has put a spotlight on the difficulties injured veterans face in obtaining desperately needed services through the VA system. Our returning vets need services not only when they first return to the US, but constant follow-up when they re-join their families at home.
What do you think should be done to improve the level of health services being provided to our returning injured veterans?
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Comments: 9
Remember folks, we live in a Democratic Republic so we, the people, are charged with the duty to fix the problems in our society. Our veterans are shuffled aside because we don't care enough to kick our politician's asses until they address the issue and improve the care.