Jeremy Renner wrote 'last words' to family after snowplow accident

Jeremy Renner has revealed that he wrote his 'last words' in messages to his family while hospitalized in critical condition after a horrific accident where he was crushed by a snowplow.

The 52-year-old was airlifted to hospital on New Year's Day after a terrible accident near his home in Lake Tahoe where he suffered serious injuries and had to undergo surgery.

A spokesperson for Renner confirmed that he'd suffered 'blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries' in the accident, and was being looked after in the intensive care unit in hospital.

A day after his surgery the actor was able to post to Instagram thanking people for all of the love they'd been sending his way, and ever since then he's been on the road to recovery.

Little over a week after his update to fans he was 'crushing all the progress goals' on his road to recovery, with his sister Kym saying she was 'thrilled' at her brother's progress.

@jeremyrenner/ Instagram

He was released from hospital on 17 January and was able to continue his recovery, and last month he issued a health update showing he was able to walk again.

A report from Washoe County Sheriff's Office said that the accident had occurred when Renner had been trying to dig his nephew's truck out of the show.

According to the report the parking brake wasn't engaged on Renner's snowplow and the vehicle began sliding downhill, with the actor pulled under the tracks and run over by his efforts to stop it from crashing into his nephew.

He successfully managed to do that, though when he was in hospital in the aftermath of the horrific accident Renner composed what he thought might be his 'last words' to his family in notes on his phone.

@jeremyrenner/ Instagram

In an interview with ABC he said that while he was in hospital he was 'writing down notes in my phone' with the intention of penning some 'last words to my family'.

At times during his time in hospital he was unable to speak and had to communicate with his family using sign language.

In the interview Renner also credited his survival to the nephew he managed to save from the runaway snowplow, saying that without his nephew Alex he would have suffered a 'horrible way to die'.

Renner is convinced that without Alex's help things would have been very different, telling Diane Sawyer 'surely I would have' not made it.

The full interview with Renner releases today (6 April).