John Woodroffe's book Struck Down tells of being hit by a woman who fell from five stories

"I had just met Katy right outside my work and bang - I was struck down," the Launceston teacher said.

Woodroffe was hit by a woman who fell from five stories above in an attempted suicide.

"She knocked Katy temporarily unconscious but knocked me all over the place, luckily she hit me on the shoulder and must have just grazed my head because I was out for a while," he said.

The impact left Woodroffe hospitalised for three months.

A severely broken leg and collarbone were among a list of injuries that also included a deadly fat embolism in his lungs, a condition where the fat from bone escapes into the bloodstream.

"My lungs were shot, they had to work really hard to keep me alive," he said.

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Despite the severeness of Woodroffe's condition, he and Katy decided to make the most of their trip and continued to travel through to Scotland.

Returning home, Woodroffe taught at Scotch Oakburn College for the remainder of his career, while Katy worked to become a prominent artist in Tasmania.

"When we look back on it nowadays it was quite amazing, we came back home to continue working in 1973 and didn't think of it much," Woodroffe said.

In fact, the couple wouldn't revisit the event for another 50 years until a friend shared a particular story with them at a birthday party in Launceston.

It was this interaction that inspired Woodroffe to write Struck Down - a new book being released on July 25.

"My friend said hey Woody, have you heard this story? And told me about two people standing on the beach at Gallipoli, talking about [the 1972 incident] for whatever reason," Woodroffe said.

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"There was a woman standing right behind them who interrupted and said, 'are you talking about John Woodroffe? He saved my life'.

The two were stunned to hear it was the same woman from 1972.

"Katy and I sat in the car for ages after that just thinking, this is ridiculous ... that was the trigger for us to start some research."

Woodroffe said they believed the woman to be pregnant at the time she fell, and wanted to find her child.

"I struggled and struggled to find details about the woman at Gallipoli, but really we were searching for the [child] because it would have just been amazing."

So did they find the woman and her child?

You'll have to read the book to find out.

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Woodroffe also gave praise to his physician at the time, Bernard Francisco Ribeiro, the Lord Ribeiro CBE, who even wrote the foreword to his book.

A "bit of a cricket nut," he and Katy were reunited with Lord Riberio in 2013 at a Lord's Test match and were even shown the House of Lords.

It was a fitting moment for Woodroffe, who in 1972 was denied entry to a Test due to his cast, and was unable to fit in the seating area.

"The words I said to Katy before I was struck was, have they picked the team yet?," Woodroffe said.

"When we came out of hospital I had this full-length cast on and I knew I couldn't sit in my seat.

"In 2013 I was a bit cheeky and wrote to the Lord's cricket people and told them what happened back then, so they gave us five tickets to the Test match, which we lost."

He said Struck Down began as a story of his and Katy's life, but evolved into something more.

"There's a fair bit of detective work that went on to tell the other part of the story, which became much more interesting," he said.

"There's a bit of cricket in there too."

Woodroffe also thanked his wife Katy, who designed the cover of the book.

Struck Down launches on July 25 at Fullers Bookshop in Hobart, and in Launceston at Scotch Oakburn College Space Gallery on July 27.

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