Network chronicles Sen. Johnson's recovery

By The Associated Press | Friday, August 24, 2007

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SIOUX FALLS - ABC News and reporter Bob Woodruff have been chronicling Sen. Tim Johnson's recovery from a brain hemorrhage for a "Nightline" story that is expected to air shortly after the senator makes his first public appearance since December.

Johnson has been rehabilitating and working part-time from home for several months and plans to return to the Senate in September. Johnson will appear at what his office calls a "Thank You South Dakota" event in Sioux Falls on Tuesday.

Johnson's office said ABC News followed the senator's recovery in a series of interviews with Woodruff, who suffered a brain injury while reporting from Iraq.

Johnson underwent emergency surgery last December for arteriovenous malformation, a rare complication that caused vessels in his brain to grow abnormally large and burst. He's been undergoing rehabilitation since January.

Johnson's Communications Director, Julianne Fisher, has deferred numerous interview requests from media outlets during his recovery and has said the senator's physicians told him he should concentrate on his rehabilitation rather than do interviews.

She said on Thursday that Johnson and his wife, Barbara, saw the interview series with ABC as an opportunity to realize some positive result from Johnson's misfortune and illustrate to people with brain injuries that it is possible to recover and lead a productive life.

Following Johnson's hemorrhage, "there was such intense media interest. The family didn't want to grant anything (interviews)) at first," Fisher told the Argus Leader of Sioux Falls.

Ultimately, though, Johnson and his wife decided that "this is a very different type of opportunity. Bob Woodruff has gone through his own struggle."

Fisher said the senator first met Woodruff the day before Johnson was discharged from a Washington, D.C.-area hospital. She said Woodruff and Johnson quickly built a relationship based on their shared experience with brain trauma.

"It wasn't like they were there every day, probably once every six weeks," Fisher said. "They would come to see him in therapy. Woodruff sat with him three or four times for extensive interviews."

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, Gov. Mike Rounds, Sioux Falls Mayor Dave Munson and a taped message from Sen. John Thune will be on the program for the Tuesday event. Other guests include former Sen. George McGovern.