Two and a half months after barely surviving a car bomb in Iraq, CBS Evening News correspondent Kimberly Dozier is making "miraculous recovery" and is expected to eventually return to work, according to her boss.
"It's a miraculous story," CBS News president Sean McManus told reporters during an appearance with new Evening News anchor Katie Couric at the annual Television Critics Association's meeting Sunday in Pasadena, California. "Kimberly has no real business being alive right now."
Dozier, 39, sustained critical shrapnel injuries to her head and legs on May 29 after the bomb detonated near the military convoy she was traveling with. The blast killed two British members of her crew, 48-year-old cameraman Paul Douglas and 42-year-old soundman James Brolan, along with a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi translator attached to the 4th Infantry Division.
During her evacuation to a field hospital, Dozier lost 30 units of blood. During one of two operations to remove shrapnel from her head, she didn't have a pulse, but doctors managed to stabilize her. Within a day, she was airlifted to Lansthul Regional Medical Center in Germany before being transferred on June 6 to the U.S. for treatment at Bethesda Naval Hospital.
McManus said Dozier will be released from Bethesda later this week and enter a private rehabilitation center.
"I don't want to give a medical report, but I think she'll have good use of her legs," said McManus. "The good news is she has really no mental effects from the accident. She's sharp as a tack.
"She's going to make a full recovery and it's miraculous."
McManus added that he fully expects Dozier to be back reporting for the CBS Evening News when she's fit and ready.
"It's one of the really good stories that we've been associated with. Here's a great reporter, an intrepid reporter who couldn't wait to get back to Iraq," he said. "And because she's a fighter and because she's gotten incredible medical care from the armed services, she's going to make it and she's going to continue to be...a good reporter and a good member of our team.
"We've got some...really good specific ideas of what her role is going to be."
Dozier was the second high-profile American TV news correspondent to nearly die on assignment in Iraq.
ABC's World News coanchor Bob Woodruff sustained life-threatening injures in a roadside bomb blast on Jan. 29. Following a series of operations and months of rehabilitation, the 44-year-old newsman was well enough to make a brief contribution to a Nightline report on July 5, but it's unclear when he'll be able to go back to work full time.
The Iraq conflict has been the deadliest war for journalists in over a century. According to Editor & Publisher, 71 reporters have been confirmed dead, surpassing the 69 killed in World War II and 63 who died in Vietnam.