"Why Not Me?" — Lee Woodruff on Turning Tragedy Into Purpose, a Special Encore Presentation

Lee Woodruff's life reads like fiction — a college meet-not-quite-cute with her future husband Bob, a front-row seat to the Tiananmen Square crackdown that redirected Bob's entire career, his meteoric rise to co-anchor of ABC's World News Tonight, and then, just weeks into that dream job, a roadside bomb in Iraq that nearly killed him.

In this conversation, Lee shares how she got the call while at Disney World with their four kids, the surreal days that followed, and the 36-day coma that ended with Bob speaking Mandarin and French before he could speak English again. She opens up about "ambiguous loss" — the complicated grief of loving someone who survived but changed — and the "four F's" (family, friends, funny, faith) that got her through. Lee also talks candidly about the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which has now raised more than $80 million for veterans and military families, and about her own definition of optimism: not the absence of hard days, but the belief that tomorrow can be better.

Chapters:

00:31 The Woodruff Story: Love and Triumph 02:08 A Life of Accomplishments 04:42 The Impact of Tiananmen Square 08:31 The Shocking News 12:14 The Four F's: Coping Mechanisms 13:16 The Birth of the Bob Woodruff Foundation 16:03 Finding Strength in Adversity 19:14 Bob's Remarkable Recovery 22:05 Navigating Complicated Grief 25:57 The Pursuit of Happiness 29:02 The Foundation's Humble Beginnings 30:31 Innovative Solutions for Veterans 32:06 Mobilizing Awareness Through Personal Experience 33:05 Navigating Caregiving and Grief 35:30 The Journey of Optimism 37:11 The Impact on Family: Growing Through Adversity 40:49 Looking Ahead: New Ventures and Aspirations