Former NFL running back Peyton Hillis says it’s “100% a miracle” no one died when he saved his son and niece from a dangerous rip current while they were swimming in Florida earlier this year.
On Tuesday’s “Good Morning America,” Hillis recounted details of the incident in an interview with co-anchor Michael Strahan in his first public comments on the January incident.
“The night before it was a bad storm, but you know, I didn’t really pay too much attention to it and when I woke up the next morning it was windy but it was beautiful,” Hillis said.
Hillis said the children were playing in the surf at Pensacola Beach when they suddenly started waving their hands and screaming. He said he didn’t remember seeing any lifeguards around so “I didn’t even think, I reacted and started running into the water.”
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When he reached his 8-year-old niece and 9-year-old son, he had to make a decision about which one to save first.
“I think the scariest point … was when I’m swimming to my son and I have to pass by him because my niece is in more danger,” Hillis told Strahan. “I knew that I had to pass him up to get to Camille first. Because, you know, if I didn’t then there’s no way she would’ve made it.”
After putting his niece on a boogie board and pushing her to safety, Hillis went back for his son Orry, while battling to stay afloat himself in the 10- to 12-foot waves.
After struggling to get to where they could start to walk to the beach, Hillis said he began to lose consciousness as his lungs and kidneys started to shut down. Fortunately, emergency workers were soon on the scene to take everyone to the hospital.
Hillis was unconscious for about 10 days at Pensacola’s Baptist Hospital and spent two weeks recovering in the intensive care unit before he was released. Five months later, Hillis said he’s still feeling the effects.
“I don’t think my lungs will ever get back to where they needed to be,” he said. “Physically, it’s comin’ along okay. Mentally things [are] coming along a lot slower. I’m just tryin’ to take it one day at a time.”
