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Nearly five years after almost dying on a charity run across the United States, Nick Ashill is returning to the scene of crime, where he was left in a ditch fighting for his life.

Although surgeons were able to rebuild his body (at a staggering cost of $US1.3 million, paid for by insurance) it has taken years to rebuild his confidence and get his body back to a point where he can finish what he started – a nearly 5000km journey.

His memory of the incident is hazy, but he recalled a white ute driving straight at him.

Realising the ute was going to deliberately hit him, he tried to throw himself over a fence but it struck him, throwing him into the air before landing in a ditch.

His leg and pelvis took the full impact and with bones sticking out, he was unable to move.

Fortunately, the father-of-four was on a hands-free Skype call to his wife, who was on holiday in Cyprus. Sarah Ashill, a nurse, was able to organise a rescue mission with US emergency services.

Ashill was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where his condition was assessed as life-threatening.

He underwent a gruelling series of surgeries, as doctors rebuilt his leg and pelvis, and repaired a perforated bowel.

Things got worse for him when he developed a major infection in his stomach and scrotum, and again it was not clear if he would survive.

The run was to raise funds for the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ, and the UK-based Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) Trust.

In 2015 Ashill’s mother died of the rare respiratory disease. An ultra-marathon runner, he decided to realise his dream of running from Los Angeles to New York and to raise funds to support those living with IPF.