WSB Exclusive Speaker
Best-Selling Author, Freelance Writer
When a roadside bomb severely injured her network journalist husband Bob Woodruff, Lee Woodruff discovered how quickly life can change—and what you can learn from surviving a crisis.
When Lee Woodruff’s husband, ABC’s then newly appointed co-anchor Bob Woodruff, was hit by a roadside bomb while covering the war in Iraq, Lee and Bob’s life instantly changed. Today she speaks with grace and humor about her own family’s experience and their approach to the crisis that befell them, one that resulted in the healing and strengthening of her whole family. As co-author of the best-selling book, In an Instant, Woodruff garnered critical acclaim for the compelling and humorous chronicle of her family’s journey to recovery and she continues to work with groups nationwide to raise awareness of traumatic brain injury and the sacrifices of our military troops and families. She has authored two additional books Perfectly Imperfect: A Life in Progress (April 2009) and her first novel, Those We Love Most, (September 2012). Woodruff has written numerous articles about her family and parenting in magazines such as Health, Parade, Redbook and Ladies Home Journal. As a contributing editor and spokesperson for Family Fun, she has written about health and travel and participated in national and regional broadcasts to discuss various topics on its behalf. She was previously a contributor for ABC’s Good Morning America, reporting on home- and family-related topics. Woodruff is impatient with today’s perception of the perfect working mother. To attain “super-woman” status by effortlessly balancing work, home and parenting is an impossible ideal. Woodruff frankly discusses how a family crisis forced her to reassess her priorities, as well as dispense with the idea that she could do it all and achieve perfection. She delivers an anecdote-filled presentation demonstrating how we can all learn to check the “cape” at the door and still tap into our own superpowers.
Life, marriage, family, work…and balance? Impossible. As a woman in today’s world, chances are you have become a multi-tasking maniac. And there is so much pressure on us all to do everything well. One small misstep, one crisis, one unexpected event and the whole apparatus can feel as if it’s spiraling downward. Lee Woodruff went through what she describes as a “year of hell” when her husband, ABC’s newly appointed co-anchor Bob Woodruff, was hit by a bomb while covering the war in Iraq. As the co-author of the New York Times best-selling book In an Instant, Woodruff has much to tell when it comes to speaking about parenting through a crisis, how to forgive ourselves for not being perfect, and how to put family and self above all else while keeping the important balls in the air. Speaking with anecdotes, humor and warmth, Woodruff delivers an interesting take on how we can all learn to check the “cape” at the door and still tap into our own superpowers.
Anyone who has met a health care crisis head-on or with a loved one knows precisely what the term “caregiver” means. And in every case, it is completely inadequate to describe what millions of men and women are doing around the country every day as they minister to the needs of children, spouses, loved ones, parents and partners. Woodruff provides her 10 tips for caregivers while sharing her own story about nursing her husband though a miraculous recovery after he suffered a traumatic brain injury when hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Having also served as a caregiver for her father, who recently succumbed to Alzheimer’s, Woodruff is additionally able to identify with the heartache and devastating effects of disease. Through these trying experiences she has cultivated a deep understanding of complicated grief and the high-wire balancing act that many caregivers face. She knows as well as anyone that these abounding pressures and heavy burdens consistently allow for no margin of error. Woodruff’s compassion and strength, told with honesty and empathy, will leave audiences inspired and renewed.
Having served as a caregiver to both her husband who suffered a traumatic brain injury after he was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq, as well as to her father as he battled and ultimately succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease, Lee Woodruff brings strength and compassion as she reminds audiences that the things people value most in health care are those that are free to provide and take little time.
Through these trying experiences she is able to speak with honesty and empathy about how critical it is to include the family in the equation as well as the simplicity and healing powers of leaving the door open for hope. Woodruff’s stories of respect and kindness by healthcare professionals are reminders that the human side of health care is just as important to the patient and their families as the medical treatments they receive. In a time where so many aspects of the healthcare experience are being automated and digitized, maintaining human connections with the patients and their loved ones is as valuable and powerful as the most expensive medical device.
Lee’s candor, warmth and humor provide audiences with a revived sense of motivation and renewal for the extraordinary work that they do.
Whether it’s a child in a car accident, a spouse’s request for a divorce, a patient’s stroke, a diagnosis of breast cancer, or a terrorist attack on a warm day in September—life can change in an instant for us all.
As co-author of In An Instant, the #1 New York Times best seller, Lee Woodruff recounts her story of a marriage, a family, a crisis and a healing. When her husband, ABC’s newly appointed co-anchor Bob Woodruff, was hit by a roadside bomb while covering the war in Iraq, Woodruff’s life changed in an instant. She had to learn to put her own grief aside to care for her children, as well as her husband, who was gravely injured and close to death. In the words of Bishop Desmond Tutu—”Suffering is not optional. It seems to be part and parcel of the human condition, but suffering can embitter or ennoble.”
Woodruff speaks with grace and humor about her own family’s experience and how they chose to attack the crisis that befell them, resulting in a life-changing journey of love, healing and miracles for her whole family.
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