Actor Jeremy Renner shares hospital selfie to thank fans for support

Actor Jeremy Renner has posted a selfie from hospital, where he is receiving treatment after being injured in a snow plow accident on January 1. “Thank you all for your kind words. I’m too messed up now to type. But I send love to you all,” he wrote in the Instagram message.

The 51-year-old actor, known for playing the superhero Hawkeye in The Avengers movie saga, was run over by a seven-ton snow plow while trying to get into the driver’s seat of the vehicle. In a press conference on Tuesday, Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam described how a family member had been driving Renner’s car, when it got stuck in the snow.

“He went to retrieve his PistenBully or SnowCat – an extremely large piece of snow-moving equipment – to get his vehicle moving,” Balaam said. “After moving the vehicle from the stuck location, Mr Renner got out of the PistenBully to speak to his family member and it started to roll. [...] It was at this point that he was run over by the PistenBully.”

Renner had to be airlifted to a local hospital in Reno, where he underwent surgery on Monday for “blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries,” according to his representative. In the selfie, taken from that same hospital, Renner appears with a severely bruised face. The Instagram message has already received more than four million likes.

Several celebrities have also left get-well messages on his account, which has 18.7 million followers. “Speedy recovery buddy. Sending love your way,” wrote Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor in The Avengers, wrote in the comments. Chris Evans, another original Avenger star, wrote, “Tough as nails. Love you buddy.” While the Russo Brothers, who directed Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Endgame, added: “Sending all of our love, brother and hopes for a speedy recovery.”

TV host Jimmy Fallon, the actress and singer Vanessa Hudgens, actor Orlando Bloom, DJ Steve Aoki and Spanish actress Penélope Cruz are among some of the many big names who also left messages of support.

Jeremy Renner’s publicist, Samantha Mast, said that the two-time Oscar nominee was “making positive progress and is awake, talking and in good spirits,” in a statement released Tuesday. “He remains in ICU in critical but stable condition,” she added.

Local authorities said at a press conference on Tuesday that there were no indications that alcohol or drugs were involved in the accident. According to Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam, an investigation is underway into the incident to “rule out any potential mechanical failure.”

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