American actor Jeremy Renner is grateful to the people who helped him pull through a near-fatal accident two years ago after he was run over by a snowplough.
“Happy New Year blessings to you all. Ringing in my second ‘ReBirthday’ today,” the 53-year-old wrote on social media on Jan 1. He posted a photo of himself on a hospital bed surrounded by his medical team.
“I send out my love, respect and gratitude for the army of people that it took to put me back together again. Thank you to each and every nurse, doctor, first responder... I literally owe you my life.”
Renner is best known for playing the superhero Hawkeye/Clint Barton in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. He had jumped behind the wheel of a snow-removal tractor to pull his nephew Alex Fries’ car out of the snow in Reno, Nevada, on New Year’s Day in 2023.
When the tractor started sliding, Renner got out, but did not pull the emergency brake. He was run over as he tried to stop the plough from hitting Fries, resulting in more than 30 broken bones and severe trauma to the actor’s chest.
The doctors used titanium rods and screws to repair his broken ribs, and placed metal in his legs and in his face to rebuild an eye socket.
“All my heart goes out to my beautiful, brave nephew and the angels (my neighbours) who jumped to my aid and endured the chaos for 45 long minutes on the icy asphalt New Year’s morning,” Renner wrote on Jan 1. “I’m so sorry for all the haunting images I imprinted on you all (I’ll spare you all from the meat grinding images).”
The Oscar-nominated star has an 11-year-old daughter with his former wife, Canadian model Sonni Pacheco, 36.
He added in his post: “With the amount of love and prayers that flooded in from you all around the world (needing each and every one of them), my family never leaving my side, with some divine intervention, a bit of luck and a whole lot of miracles, I stand strong again.”
Renner is starring in American crime drama Mayor Of Kingstown (2021 to present). He said in an interview with the Smartless podcast in June 2024 that he would not be taking on challenging roles for now.
“I just don’t have the energy for it. I don’t have the fuel,” he said. “I have so much fuel to put into this reality, this body, all this stuff. I can’t just go play make-believe right now.”
He added: “Because that takes a lot of time to get right here every day just so I can have a positive thought, so I can progress, so I can always keep growing.” – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
