It's been a hard road to recovery for Kiwi actor James Rolleston after a life-threatening car crash, but the actor says "if you want to know what the hardest part is, it's now".
Rolleston was involved in a crash in July, last year in Opotiki when the car he was driving hit a bridge.
He had to be cut out of the car. His close friend Kaleb Maxwell was also seriously injured.
On TVNZ1's Sunday Special, Wait For Me Hollywood , Rolleston's grandmother relives the harrowing moments as her grandson lay in hospital, with staff unsure if he would pull through.
"The nurse, my daughter, said, "mum, you really need to think about, should he go one way or another. I hope you're not going to let him drag on."
It was lucky for the 'Boy' star who survived, but his injuries left him with months of rehabilitation and reclaiming his life after a brain injury.
"He's surviving, he'll come through this, [but] what will we get?" his grandmother said.
Rolleston said during his rehabilitation he felt like "a 19-year-old baby".
"My whole life slipped away, like I was at rock bottom," he said.
James and his family went through restorative justice with his 'brother' Caleb, who was injured in the 2016 car crash.
Despite months of progress, Rolleston said he's finding the present the most difficult part.
"If you want to know what the hardest part is, it's now," he told Sunday.
"I'm not working at the moment and I don't have a vehicle, I'm often home alone... Having that much down times gives me time to think about all that stuff."
"It's really hard because I often think about the negatives, and often compare, which I shouldn't, compare my life to what I could have been back then."
He said he also thinks a lot about the impact the car accident had on his friend who was also injured.
At Rolleston's sentencing for a charge of dangerous driving causing injury, the judge told Rolleston, "We are all entitled to make one mistake in our lives, you have made yours".
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 200 hours of community service in August this year.
The much-loved young Kiwi star of 'Boy' and 'Goodbye Pork Pie' opens up to TVNZ1's Sunday.
Watch James Rolleston's full story here .
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