Utah Train Wreck Survivor Has Cheated Death Twice

Stephen Ward nearly died while undergoing a bone marrow transplant 4 years ago
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 26, 2013 8:37 AM CDT
Utah Train Wreck Survivor Has Cheated Death Twice
This Thursday, July 25, 2013 photo provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shows young Mormon missionary from Utah, Stephen Ward, 18, hospitalized.   (Scott Jackson)

Seconds before the Spanish train he was aboard lifted off the tracks "like a roller coaster," Mormon missionary Stephen Ward said he glanced up from the journal he was writing in and noticed a backpack tumble from a rack. Moments later, the 18-year-old from Bountiful, Utah, blacked out as the train smashed into a concrete wall at high speed. He awoke to a scene that seemed like a nightmare, his face caked in blood, his leg bruised, and his neck injured. But he survived a horrific crash that killed at least 78 people—his latest brush with death.

Four years earlier, Ward was diagnosed with a rare cancer known as Burkitt's lymphoma and nearly died while undergoing a bone marrow transplant. "From a religious standpoint, I'd like to say that God has something in store for me and that there's a reason I'm still here," Ward said in a phone interview from La Coruna, Spain. He suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck but has been discharged from the hospital, and expects to stay in Spain to complete his two-year mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which he started six weeks ago. Ward was actually supposed to board an earlier train from Madrid to El Ferrol, but he accidentally bought a ticket for the wrong day and instead went on the later train, which ended up crashing. (More Spain stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X