When he woke up after the surgery, Spencer Stone didn't ask how serious his injuries were. I asked one question: was someone dead?
The answer was no.
To understand the weight of that question you must return to 21 August 2015.
Stone was 23 and was traveling to Europe with two childhood friends, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler. That day they climbed on Thalys 9364, heading to Paris with hundreds of passengers on board.
Then, during the journey, a man came out of a armed toilet.
He had a gun, a gun, a cutter, and numerous ammunition.
The first attempt to stop him was Mark Moogalian, a French-American professor. He tried to remove his weapon, and during the fight he was reached by a bullet.
At that point, Stone made a choice that didn't leave much room to think about the consequences.
He ran to the assailant.
Skarlatos and Sadler intervened with him. Chris Norman, a 62-year-old Britishman who until then did not know those boys.
Stone reached the man and tried to immobilize him.
During the colluctation the attacker used the cutter, storing it to the face, neck and hands. One of the neck injuries could have fatal consequences. One hand was also severely wounded.
And yet they continued.
Eventually the passengers managed to overwhelm and disarm the man, immobilizing him with what they had at their disposal, including belts and a tie.
The immediate danger was over.
Stone was losing a lot of blood, though.
And it is at that moment that something happened that perhaps tells him more than the initial race against the armed man.
Vide Moogalian, still seriously injured.
Despite his condition, he reached Moogalian and tried to help him until the rescue came.
The train made an emergency stop and the wounded could be transported to the hospital. Stone was operated and survived.
Three days later, in Paris, President François Hollande gave Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler and Chris Norman the Legion of Honor, the highest French honor. The three American friends were also received at the White House.
Stone would then minimize what he had done several times, explaining that he simply reacted in the way that at that time seemed right.
But the meaning of that day is also in another detail.
On that train he didn't intervene one man.
Moogalian reacted first. Stone, Skarlatos and Sadler decided to move instead of staying still. Norman, a stranger much larger than them, joined the fight.
Different people, who few minutes before were only passengers on the same train, acted together in front of the same danger.
When it all ended, Stone wanted to know something before he cared about himself: if someone died.
That day the answer was no.