Triumphing in the face of tragedy headlines College of Human Sciences 2024 IQLA Distinguished Lecture Series

“I miraculously woke up after 36 days in a coma when my wife and family didn’t necessarily think I would wake up and if I did, my wife was basically looking for a room for me to live in for the rest of my life thinking I wouldn’t even be functional,” said Woodruff. “When I woke up, I remember my brother asking me what I remembered and I said I know that when we were hit by that IED explosion, it went off to the left side of the tank and I was completely knocked out instantly so I don’t have any memory of the blast. I did remember waking up though before I went into a coma. We fell into the tank from the top and there was my producer and sound man still inside and I looked up at the producer and said, ‘are we still alive?’ and he said, ‘yes’ and that’s the last thing I remembered before waking up from the coma.”

In the weeks and months of recovery that followed, Woodruff was surrounded by other wounded service members with many having severe injuries. Woodruff and his family wondered what life would be like for these wounded service men and women when they returned to their hometowns to live as civilians, and would they have the help and support they need? This was how the idea of the Bob Woodruff Foundation was born.

“We thought, let us do something, because it is almost like a feeling of survival guilt,” said Woodruff. “So, we started a foundation, and right away we thought it might be limited to a year and we would do what we could. We did not know it would be as successful as it is today. I say if there is anything good about this explosion and being out here in the warzone it is this, it is the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done.”

After the start of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, Dougherty stepped in and during her role as CEO, the foundation has only flourished as the years have gone on. Coming from a family with a strong military background, Dougherty understood from the beginning the sacrifices that are made by so many military members.

“A big part of what’s been my passion in building the foundation is the acute knowledge of what can go wrong and what can happen to someone like what happened to Bob,” said Dougherty. “The thoughts naturally are in the back of your mind, what would happen if this happened to my family or to one of my husband’s Marines and when they come home, who will take care of them? That is really the purpose of the foundation. If we can have your back when you get home, then you are going to feel a little better leaving and going and defending our country.”

Another integral part of the Bob Woodruff Foundation is fundraising, and Dougherty highlighted the latest milestone accomplishment at the Standup for Heroes annual event.

“We’ve been doing this event for 18 years so for all students here in event planning and philanthropy and fundraising, you’ll appreciate that after 18 years not only are the expectations 18 times greater than they were year one, but also people come to expect a feeling of nostalgia and pride,” said Dougherty. This big night, we raised a record-breaking $30 million. It’s through stewardship, creating an event that people want to come to year in and year out and finding ways to surprise and delight the audience.”