Video summary
Jeremy Renner recounts a life-altering accident involving his snowcat, a specialized tank-like vehicle used to clear deep snow in Lake Tahoe during New Year's Day. While stuck due to heavy winter conditions that left them without power or electricity for several days, the family needed to access supplies and ski slopes by clearing their half-mile driveway of up to twelve feet of snow. Renner was operating the machine with his nephew Alex when he attempted to unhook a chain on an icy slope while sliding backward toward him. In trying to avoid hitting his nephew, Renner stepped onto the spinning tracks instead of using ladders or steps, accidentally engaging the forward motion button and causing the massive vehicle to rush at them. He failed to jump back into the cab in time, resulting in being crushed underneath the machine as it rolled over like a tank crushing a log. The immediate aftermath involved severe physical trauma, including broken bones across his body, a cracked skull, and an eyeball that was dislodged from its socket. Despite these catastrophic injuries, Renner remained conscious for forty-five minutes on the ice before losing consciousness due to exhaustion rather than blood loss or shock alone. He describes the experience of suffocation as feeling like drowning while being squeezed by his collapsed rib cage pressing against a damaged lung; breathing required immense physical effort akin to performing one-armed push-ups just to exhale and inhale again. His heart rate dropped significantly, slowing to eighteen beats per minute before he slipped into unconsciousness, only for something unknown to bring him back shortly after. Renner reflects on the mental fortitude that allowed him to survive such a traumatic event, noting his history of maintaining clarity during high-adrenaline situations like car crashes and roller coasters. He credits specific life experiences learned at age twelve in Lamaze childbirth classes with teaching him how to manage pain through breathing techniques and meditation, skills he applied instinctively when faced with the threat of death on the ice. His ability to focus entirely on finding his next breath prevented panic and organ failure from setting in too quickly, allowing him to endure until rescue arrived. He emphasizes that while physical recovery is difficult, one's perception and mindset are ultimately what provide control over survival outcomes. Upon regaining consciousness after a brief period of unconsciousness, Renner expresses relief rather than fear upon seeing his dislodged eyeball again, viewing it as proof that he had survived the ordeal to face another day. He rejects narratives of complaining about never working in Hollywood again or focusing on negative aspects of his injury, choosing instead to maintain an oversimplified perspective on life's simplicity and value. The story serves as a testament to how mental acuity can influence physical resilience, illustrating that belief systems and mindset play crucial roles in healing processes even when the body is severely compromised by powerful machinery and extreme environmental conditions.
Read the full video transcript
So, for the people that sort of weren't
aware of what happened, there's
something to do with the snowplow. Can
you give the the the overview? Yeah, the
over overview. Um, it was it's a
um uh
well, how do I overview? It was hard
enough to recount to write the book, you
know,
but where you know, now I got to write
the trailer. Okay.
So, and the settings in Lake Tahoe and
uh it's New Year's and we always have my
family uh in New Year's and we were
snowed in for a few days.
Um sort of Armageddon, Snowageddon we
called it type of type of thing. So, we
had no power, no electricity, nothing.
And we were having a great time, but New
Year's Day it was going to be sunny, so
I had to clear the driveway so we can
get out and get some fresh air and that
type of thing. And uh in the mountains
uh you know it's you're at 8,000 ft
elevation you get a ton of snow. So we
have like probably 10 12 ft of snow. So
that's like sand you got to move this
stuff to kind of get it out when we're
supposed to go skiing and all that
stuff. Ends up have I'm taking the snow
cap which is used snow cap if you don't
know what it is. It's like a like a
tank. It moves on the snow. It's about
16,000 lbs wet and it's got a big shovel
in the front of it and it usually drags
behind it, you know, stuff, but it's
like like a tank and it turns like a
tank or a skid steer. Um, so it's pretty
nimble and it floats on the snow cuz it
has these steel tracks and they're wide
so kind of like snowshoes if you will,
right? So you don't sink in it, but
which is great for that. And we took it
up to the end of the driveway, which is
about half mile
long. We were taking cars that were
stuck in the snow and things that were
buried. You don't even know what's
underneath all that snow. So, we have to
be very careful. So, we're dragging all
the stuff out of there. So, we have a
driveway so we have access to maybe
we'll get food, supplies, something,
anything, right? So, we we take the
snowcat and drag all the stuff out. The
final one was my truck and we got it to
to the top of the the mountain where
there's a plowed driveway and where it's
hard and we can actually can maneuver a
bit better. And then my nephew this
takes the help of my nephew Alex and um
so and we've done this a thousand times.
I mean it's this is like mowing the lawn
for us up there in the mountains. It was
just they were on this it's kind of a
slope and it was very icy and we were
sliding and I didn't like I was sliding
towards him as he was trying to unhook a
chain from this giant
machine and uh so I turned it around to
try to talk to him and couldn't see him
and I was sliding towards him so I
backed up. But again, you have to
understand this machine. You have to see
this machine to understand but you have
to step on these giant tracks of things
that roll and move to get in and out of
the machine anyway. There's
not form. There's no ladders, there's no
nothing. You just have to jump onto the
giant metal tracks and then you jump
into the cab to start driving this
thing,
right? Kind of a design flaw if you ask
me
cuz it's really unsteady
anyway. It's not really a pedestrian uh
type of vehicle. This is a commercial
for commercial vehicle for for ski
slopes. Right. Right. Typically people
aren't hopping in hopping out and
hooking a whatever. It's a shift. Yeah,
exactly. And uh so it's just one of
those things. I have to step out to try
to talk to him to hear them and all
these things. At any rate, and there's a
little toggle switch on the steering
column that's will move it forwards and
backwards and and put it in neutral. And
I just keep going backwards just so I
could I don't slide into him because I
can't really see him. And then in doing
so, I'm stepping on the tracks. Hit the
button wrong. It threw me off and now
the machine's rushing towards him. I
have no idea. I know he's within between
the truck and that's 10 feet away. I get
up as quick as I can and I just quickly
jump back on this machine or try to jump
back in the cab leaping up and over 3
ft. These spinning tracks and then, you
know, I don't make it and I get caught
underneath this machine and it crushes
me. It rolls over like a tank would run
over a log just, you know, doesn't
think, does it? And uh and it didn't
crush my
nephew, which is
great. But uh that would have been a
real double whammy. Oh, yeah. That would
have been terrible. Yeah. I mean, it's
Yeah. Yeah. Wouldn't my body slow it
down a little bit? Probably. Probably
not. Probably not. This thing's This
thing will climb up a tree. This thing
it's it's gnarly. The power of this
machine is is quite insane. It's
impressive. But you need it. It's the
only thing that'll kind of operate in
the that kind of snow. that kind of
those kind of crazy conditions, you
know. And so at any rate, um you can you
can edit this the way you want, but then
at the end of the I break like 38 bones,
my skull cracks open and I my eyeball
comes out. I can see my eyeball with my
other eye. Uh I can't breathe. I'm awake
the whole time during this thing. And I
have to survive for 45 minutes on the
ice till I get hella lifted out of
there. And a lot of the book is about
tells you about that experience because
there's a lot of things as a death and
coming back and uh there's a lot there's
a lot of mindset stuff a lot of
fortitude mental acuity is what got me
through physical I mean there's a lot of
things that got me through but the the
power of the mind and the body is
wonderfully responsive to your thoughts
to heal itself to hurt itself whatever
but it's it's uh pretty pretty amazing
what the mind can do. Did you have a
practice
meditation? Did you have this prior?
Yeah. Right. Okay. How how do you think
this situation
would have been different or how well do
you think that your practices and
advance contributed? It's it's hard it's
hard to know. I mean that's why I had to
reflect. That's one thing was very
cathartic about this book is just
reflecting back on what prepared me for
that situation. I've been in not
near-death experience situations before,
but I've been in like um high adrenaline
situations. How do you react? Well, just
how do you react to like things that you
know car crash or something somebody
gets hit on the freeway and what do you
do or you either react or you know you
you go into shock or how people deal
with the flow of adrenaline rush through
their body, right? And I've always been
challenged and I've always come out
clear-headed in all those adrenaline
rush situations. So, it's hard to know
cuz that's how I've always been. I like
roller coasters, but I'm not like a
thrill junkie really, right? I'm not
like an adrenaline junkie, but it just I
just know how my mind reacts in those
situations. I'm always very very
clear-headed about it and an actionable
person. So, that helped. And then um you
know there was like breathing. Breathing
was like you say meditation. Well, I was
in LA class when I was 12 years old when
my mom was pregnant. So, and that all
lamas is is preparation for birthing a
child. man mitigating you know pain
managing your pain as you you know is
very very painful for a woman as she's
giving birth so you use these short
breasts and all these sort of things
mental feeding ice chips and getting
their attention away from their cervix
right and do all these sort of things I
learned that at 12 I didn't know that
that was going to save my life on the
ice as I got ran over by a snow cat
right but that was huge in it that's all
I was trying to do look if you can't
breathe what are you going to do look
for your next breath
You need to breathe. I saw my eye. I'll
worry about that later. I saw my twisted
legs. I'll worry about that later.
That'll hurt. Didn't then I have to find
my next breath or this is all I'm a
goner, right? Everything will start
failing. I'll lose consciousness. My
organs will fail. I'm dead. So, you
know, yeah, there's a lot of things I
think prepared me, but I can only
reflect. I can't say for certainty,
right? How could we? M um but yeah I
think there were a lot of things that uh
that prepared me but it was definitely
the mental
thing through anything you know even
into the recovery it's like it's it's
the only thing you have control of is
your perception of something that is it
you think you can control your body you
think you control something but it
starts with your brain and your mind and
and your your spirit of what you believe
in what you see how you see something is
all in your
control it's and I'm not like the half
class half half empty kind of dude,
right? But it's a version of
that. I could have made it I could have
whine and complain and like, "Oh god,
I'm never going to worked again as an
actor." None of that. I didn't care
about any of that, right? That had no
value to me. The value was the the
mental acuity to to get through to find
my next breath to zoom out so big and so
wide. And I keep my perspective there. I
live in a very
comfortable, loving, pure life with a
where I
oversimplify the simplicity of life
because it is just that simple. How long
did that 45 minutes feel?
Wow. It was probably the first 25 that
were the toughest cuz I don't think I
don't think an EMT or fire department
can get there until like the first half
hour. So the first half hour is rough
and I died in that time because I got
tired. I just got because doing the
equivalent of breathing that we all
don't even think about breathing. It's
not even conscious, right? It's just
sort of reflexive. It just happens in
our body. But I had to like work and
it's like doing like a one- arm push-up.
It took every piece of physical energy I
could do just to exhale a little bit so
I can get a little bit more back in. I
was suffocating. Yeah. It felt like it
felt like drowning.
Yeah, in a way. Yeah. Yeah. I was still
getting air. You can't do that in the
water. But I was it was it was like a
bullet constrictor kind of feeling like
it just squeezes more. You s blow out
air. It's squeezing you. And it's
because my whole rib cage, my shoulder,
all this side was just collapsed on my
lung that was already collapsed instead
of suffocating myself. So I got once I
had my nephew lift my arm up enough that
lift my rib cage off my lung, I could
get a little bit more air in. It wasn't
like suffocating so much. So I can it
was still excruciating but to breathe
was quite quite the effort and if if you
just to take deep breaths for a minute
you you feel lightheaded you might pass
out but like this is just it's just it
was just
exhausting and with each exhale
exhalation and then inhalation it was
just like so did it feel long? I don't
know. I can't answer that. It was just
like I was waiting for my next breath. I
was never sure it was going to happen
but I was going to will it to happen.
We got tired and I got
tired and that's you know that's
when I just everything just started
slowing actually probably I guess maybe
it felt like a long time cuz it start
things started to get slow and
consciousness was there the the
neighbors got here by this point. Um a
lot of things transpired. Um it was me
and my two neighbors I never met and my
my nephew Alex there for the first half
hour. They're on the phone call with
911, whatever. And um trying to they're
trying to do everything they can to keep
me alive. And I just got tired and
that's when I was
gone. And then came
back and I was pissed about
it. Like there I saw my eyeball again.
And I'm like, "Oh, cuz it was so great."
I'm like, "Oh, it was so great. I was
having such a good
time." Cuz I cuz I was going because I
did sort of regulate breathing and then
it just started to slow. The heart rate
started to low slow. It was like 18
beats per minute. It was It wasn't just
sort of like I just croked, right? Just
it was just smoothly into it like just
gently away. Like later everyone, it was
great. And then something brought me
back. God damn it. And I saw my eyeball
again. I'm like, "Ah, dude. I'm in this
busted body. I'm in this busted body
again." I'm like, "All right, here we
go. Let's get back into it." So, it
wasn't uh No one was I mean, CPR would
have No. Yeah. No, no, no, no. It It
wasn't for very long. It was only like
probably, you know, you my neighbor cuz
it just happened to my neighbor the day
before when she saw her uncle die. What?
Yeah. Or Yeah. I think it was her uncle
or No, it wasn't her brother. I think it
was her uncle. And it just happened to
her then. She and she happened to be
worked in the medical medical field
anyway. So, it's kind of a great thing
having kind of a nurse be your neighbor.
But, um yeah, she said you Yeah, I saw I
saw you go and uh yeah, cuz all your
face turns all these colors and it's
like a lizard or chameleon or something.
At any rate, um so I don't think it was
gone for very long, but it doesn't
really matter, I suppose. Um, I guess
not long not dead enough to have, you
know, brain dead, you know, or
whatever. Maybe I'm brain dead
now. In other news, this episode is
brought to you by Momentous. If your
workouts feel flat, your recovery is
slow, or you've just been feeling off,
it might not be your training plan or
diet, might be something a bit more
boring, like your testosterone. So if
you're not performing in the gym or the
bedroom the way that you want or you
just want to naturally improve your
testosterone, tonatali is a fantastic
researchback place to start. And when
this is stacked with zinc can make a
huge improvement in testosterone
production, strength, recovery, and
energy, which is why I'm such a huge fan
of Momentous's zinc. It supports
testosterone, boosts vitality, and helps
keep everything running like it should.
And if you're still unsure, Momentus
offers a 30-day money back guarantee.
So, you can buy it and try it for 29
days. If you don't love it, they'll give
you your money back. Plus, they ship
internationally. Right now, you can get
35% off your first subscription and that
30-day money back guarantee by going to
the link in the description below or
heading to
livemus.com/modernwisdom and using the
code modernwisdom at checkout. That's
lim
nu
li.com/modern wisdom and modern wisdom
at checkout. Thank you very much for
tuning in. Enjoyed that clip with Jeremy
Rana. The full episode is available
right here.
Come on, press
[Music]