Jeremy Renner sends a moving message to his daughter after a near-accident

Jeremy Renner shares the touching message he gave his daughter as he reflects on his near-fatal snow plowing accident.

In January 2023, the avenger The 53-year-old star was trying to save his nephew from a snow plow when the vehicle skidded and ran over the actor. As he told Kelly Clarkson on the May 30 episode of The Kelly Clarkson ShowRenner had 38 broken bones and a skull fracture.

One of the worst moments, he describes, was: “I even forgot about my daughter. I was so confused after this accident.”

The Impossible mission The actor says: “But when I was taken off life support after a few weeks and came home, my sister told me that Ava was there. Everything went through my head.

“I’ve really been put on life support because my daughter is my life force,” the actor says of his 11-year-old daughter Ava, whom he has with his ex Sonni Pacheco.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“How did your little daughter cope with it?” asks Clarkson.

“I saw the fear on my daughter’s face for the first time,” Renner replies.

“I realized what had happened. What I had done to my daughter, what I had done to my nephew, my whole family, I really realized that,” he continues. “So I asked them to wait for me. I said, those are only 38 broken bones, honey. And they’ll all heal. And I promise if you wait for me, I’ll be better, I’ll be faster, I’ll be stronger than you’ve ever seen before. I promise. You have to wait for me.”

The actor took this heartbreaking conversation and turned it into a song called “Wait” after a friend inspired him to start writing songs.

Renner then said that making music with his friends and family not only helped them heal their wounds, but also turned the incident into something positive.

“We all wanted to process the incident somehow. Everyone who cared for me before the accident was going through a lot too,” he says. “So putting it into music was very cathartic for us and even for my daughter because she was a part of it.”

“My daughter plays piano, and just getting her involved in the process has turned the whole thing into something positive. And that’s what I’ve always tried to do since the accident,” he says, adding, “Music has been a great outlet for me… I always love finding something real that we can all do, and if it turns into something healing, damn, man, all the better.”