Marvel Universe star Jeremy Renner’s body is held together by titanium plates and screws after a tragic accident that left him with 30 broken bones.
Renner, 52, suffered blunt chest trauma on New Year’s Day when a daring attempt to save his cousin from being crushed by a rolling snowcat landed him under the metal tracks of the massive 14,000-pound vehicle.
His injuries included a shattered right knee, broken jaw and broken collarbone, as well as a punctured liver and collapsed lung.
Doctors placed metal plates in his torso to stabilize his ribcage and collapsed eye socket. They also placed a titanium metal bar in Mr. Renner’s left tibia to hold it together after it broke.
Renner was pulled under the snowplow, where he suffered serious injuries, including more than 30 broken bones. It was essentially put back together using metal plates and screws
He suffered 30 broken bones, a collapsed lung and had his liver punctured by a shattered rib in the horrific, fatal accident on New Year’s Day
Mr. Renner’s eight ribs were broken into 14 pieces as a result of the blunt chest trauma – an injury known as “flail chest,” defined as three or more ribs broken in at least two places.
Flail chest causes part of the ribcage to separate from the chest wall instead of holding the normal shape of the chest tightly.
The broken bones pierced his liver and probably caused his lung to collapse.
Chest flail often goes hand in hand with severe lung injury that interferes with breathing.
Several areas of broken ribs are isolated from and interfere with normal chest movements, meaning the chest cannot expand properly or draw air into the lungs.
Flail breast is serious and can be fatal in up to 25 percent of cases. Surgery is usually needed to make sure there is no underlying damage to the lungs, which is a major concern for doctors in such cases.
Mr. Renner’s medical team rebuilt his shattered ribcage with sturdy but flexible metal plates, a kind of scaffolding that will remain in his body for the rest of his life.
Surgical metals like those used in Mr. Renner’s chest are usually made of stainless steel or titanium and are held on to his ribs with screws.
The Hurt Locker star had eight broken ribs, a broken right shoulder, right knee, left tibia, left ankle, right collarbone, face, jaw, lower jaw and eye socket.
When repairing an orbital bone fracture or broken eye socket, surgeons will insert a piece of titanium mesh about two square centimeters in size and secure it with screws to help the bones heal.
Removing titanium mesh in orbital bones can be difficult and dangerous to remove due to tissue ingrowth, so it’s unclear whether Mr. Renner’s facial plates are permanent.
Mr. Renner’s cousin, Alex Fries, was trying to move a pickup truck at the time
Renner is seen in the reconstruction leaning out of the cabin to see if his cousin was out of the way
Renner fell and was then dragged under the tracks of the snowplow
He said, ‘All this [right] side of my body I don’t really feel sensitivity to touch, but it will grow. I feel it, the change already in two months.
He has no feeling in his face, but his vision is fine.
“I can barely feel my teeth on the top because they went in my face to put in two plates because of an orbital tear. I’m learning to talk again.’
Mr Renner told Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview on Thursday that he felt all the pain when he was run over by the hulking machine: ‘I was on tarmac and ice. It feels like imagining it. I could see my eye from my other eye. I saw stars.’
The weight of the snowplow alone pressed Mr. Renner against the hard asphalt. Snow would have been preferable because it could have absorbed the blow, he said.
‘I moved my legs, and I said, he’s really confused. That leg is going to be a problem,” he said.
‘What does my body look like? Will I just become like a spine and a brain like a science experiment? Is that my existence now? What will my existence be like?’
Renner’s traumatizing experience happened in January. He was airlifted to a hospital in Reno near his mountain home and is still on the mend.
In his interview with Diane Sawyer, Mr. Renner uses both a walker and a scooter to get around. He said excitedly on camera that it was his first day back on his feet since the incident.