Meeting My Hero

For as long as I can remember, journalism has been a lifelong passion of mine. At just six years old, World News with Peter Jennings became one of my favorite television programs and network news anchors and reporters were my idols. Thanks to supportive parents and family, this captivation inspired my future goals and aspirations.

At 12 years old, I became part of the Scholastic News team, covering feature, breaking, and political stories around Michigan. I was given the opportunity to cover a variety of events and news conferences. Standing on a press riser at a McCain event in 2008, I realized that many of the reporters were leaving their families and friends behind to inform us of current events. Many of them wouldn’t see their family in weeks, because they were following campaigns from town-to-town, informing us of the unchanging speeches and talking points of politicians.

But they weren’t the only ones sacrificing their time to travel across the country. Other reporters were sacrificing their lives in an even bigger way. I would watch ABC anchor Bob Woodruff cover the war in Iraq, interviewing our brave troops and keeping us updated on the tense political situations. In January 2006, Bob Woodruff was tragically injured by a roadside bomb while reporting in Taji, Iraq. The injury left him in a medically induced coma for 36 days. I began to follow the recovery of Woodruff and watched his life transform from tragedy into triumph. I was awed at his courageousness, leaving his wife and four children behind to bring the news into our living room. He was on the frontlines, braving threats, nearby bombs, and other perils of war. In the same year of his injury, 57 journalists were dreadfully killed. Bob Woodruff was lucky not to be part of that figure. He was lucky he could return to work.

Inspired by his miraculous reclamation of life, I published a novel in May 2012 entitled Sacrifice: Reporting in Kabul. The book follows the story of a fictional news reporter who travels to Afghanistan to report on the ongoing war. During a live shot, a freshly detonated bomb dreadfully injures the reporter, who is literally brushed with death. Although the book is fictional, the reality of war journalism is convincingly hazardous. Bob Woodruff is just one prime example of these hazards.

Last year I had the privilege of speaking to Woodruff several times over the phone. A Michigan native, Woodruff would frequently come back to visit in his home state. While attending the Michigan Association of Broadcasting Great Lakes Conference, I overheard a group of reporters speaking about Bob Woodruff coming to Michigan. I discovered he was going to be inducted into the Michigan Celebrity Hall of Fame on April 26.

As time loomed, WXYZ reporter Tara Edwards and I began working on contacting Woodruff. After making a few calls, Edwards called to tell me the good news. On April 26, I would meet the man who inspired me to write the novel.

As Woodruff and I walked into the Royal Oak Emagine Theatres, WXYZ cameras began rolling. Woodruff and I exchanged and signed each other’s books, shot several TV interviews, and conversed over dinner.

“It is such an honor to have him doing what he’s done. I think he’s got such a great future in journalism,” Woodruff told WXYZ-TV. “My advice to Charlie is to follow your dream and your passion and I know he will. He knows more about journalism than anyone I know.”

Woodruff and I agreed that this meeting was the first with much more yet to come.

To learn more about my book, Sacrifice: Reporting in Kabul, visit charliekadado.com. To keep up with my latest activity, “like” my Facebook page at facebook.com/CharlieKadado