Kiwi charity runner haunted by terrifying moments before struck by pick-up on US highway

A Kiwi charity runner badly hurt in a hit-and-run in the US believes he was deliberately mowed down by a pick-up truck on a US highway.

Nick Ashill, who was less than 1000km from finishing a quest to run across America, has spoken about the moment he saw a dark-coloured pick-up veer off the road and aim straight for him as he ran on the shoulder of a Madison County highway.

The New Zealand marketing professor was bowled by a mystery vehicle and left for dead in a ditch on Route 40 near the Madison/Clark County line.

The father-of-four was talking to his wife on a hands-free skype call when he was bowled. She was able to raise the alarm from halfway across the world.

In a bedside interview to a Columbus television station Ashill said he couldn't recall much about the crash but was haunted by the terrifying moments before he was hit.

"It was a dark pick-up - that's all I can remember - but moving directly on to the shoulder and speeding up. That's something that does haunt me," Ashill told ABC 6 WSYX Columbus.

He said there was no way the driver could have mistaken him for anything other than a runner.

"I always wear colourful clothing so it's not as though I look like a wild deer."

He was now on the slow road to recovery in an Ohio State University Hospital with a broken leg, pelvis and internal injuries. He has had five operations to repair the wounds and is not expected to be able to walk again for several months.

Despite his ordeal Ashill was grateful to have survived and determined to run again.

"I'm lucky. I'm alive. I have my life. Somebody else may not have been so fortunate," he told ABC 6 WSYX Columbus.

He appealed to the driver of the mystery vehicle to come forward.

"Own what you have done and that will help everybody concerned. That will help me and that will help you," he said.

Police investigating the hit-and-run still have no suspects.

Ashill was running across America to raise funds to support families affected by pulmonary fibrosis.

That has gone on hold but two online fundraising pages in New Zealand and the United States have been set up to help meet the staggering $500,000 medical and rehabilitation bill Ashill faces over the next six months.

https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/gettingnickbackonhisfeet?_ga=2.236583554.2055980389.1503692198-1372704403.1499664363

https://www.gofundme.com/get-nick-back-on-his-feet
https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/gettingnickbackonhisfeet?_ga=2.236583554.2055980389.1503692198-1372704403.1499664363