Oscar-nominated actor Jeremy Renner rang in the new year by sharing a touching tribute to the people who saved his life following a near-fatal snow plow accident two years earlier.
“I send out my love, respect, and gratitude for the army of people that it took to put me back together again,” the “Avengers” star continued.
“Thank you to each and every nurse, doctor, first responder… I literally owe you my life.”
Renner’s near-death experience unfolded on Jan. 1, 2023, at his home in Reno, Nevada. At the time, the area had been blanketed by about 12 feet of snow, leaving his household without electricity for several days.
The “Mayor of Kingstown” actor attempted to use his snowcat—an enclosed vehicle equipped with tracks for navigating snowy terrain—to clear the road for his nephew, Alex Fries, whose truck was stranded in the snow.
However, after Renner stepped out of the snowcat, it kept moving. While attempting to stop it, Renner was pulled underneath the more than 14,000-pound machine and nearly crushed to death.
In addition to 38 broken bones, Renner suffered 14 breaks in his ribs and damage to his eye socket.
Body camera footage shared online showed first responders providing life-saving aid to the actor, who was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition.
“That’s when [the snowcat] started coming at me like full force. That’s when he tried to jump back in there,” Fries said. “He slipped because these tracks—there’s no way to stand on them. He tried to jump on it, and it took him under.”
‘Blessed to Take My Next Step’
In his Instagram post, Renner expressed gratitude to Fries and his neighbors for helping him survive the distressing accident.“All my heart goes out to my beautiful, brave nephew and the angels (my neighbors) who jumped to my aid and endured the chaos for 45 long minutes on the icy asphalt New Year’s morning,” the actor penned, going on to apologize for the “haunting images” he had imprinted on them.
“My gratitude list is very long …. 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 continued.
“More Open. More Loved. More Connected. And ... BLESSED to take my next step, to take MY NEXT BREATH. Thank you with every fiber and cell in my body. I love you ALL.”
Nearly five months after the life-altering mishap, Renner discussed how the experience changed his outlook on life during a May 22 appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
“There’s wonderful lessons in that,” the actor said.
“I can go on and on about what happened, the 45 minutes being on the ice. But the real learning lessons from it—there’s so many great gifts [from] being tested to your limits, right? Your physical limits, your spiritual limits, right? Emotional limits ... I won’t have a bad day for the rest of my life,” he said. “It’s impossible, right? There’s that gift.
“It may be an oversimplification of it all, but I think life ... can be that simple. And when it’s made that simple, I think I can achieve anything at this point. You know, my recovery was like a one-way road. All I had to do was get better.”
The actor told Fallon that he was blown away by the amount of support he received in the wake of the accident.
“There was so much goodness and goodwill that came my way,” he said.
“I didn’t think that existed, and I certainly believe it now. I think it’s ultimately what got me to survive and come back and be strong, and I'll be stronger than I’ve ever been as I continue in my recovery. But that collective of goodness and people ... it’s astounding.”
