Former NFL running back Peyton Hillis believes it’s “100 percent a miracle” that no one died in a swimming accident on Jan. 4, when he saved his son and niece from an ocean rip current in Pensacola, Fla.
During an interview with “Good Morning America” co-anchor Michael Strahan, Hillis — who was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator in the ICU — recalled making a difficult decision to rescue his 8-year-old niece Camille ahead of his 9-year-old son Orry.
“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, a father of three, said in the interview, which aired Tuesday.
“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.
“And so what happened … I swam past my son, and I got to Camille, and she starts freakin’ out, you know, ‘We’re gonna die, we’re gonna die.'”
Hillis, 37, recounted that he was able to put his niece on a boogie board and push her to safety, but when he went back into the water, his son was “pretty much limp.”
“He didn’t have any more strength in him to swim and I’m sitting there holding him,” Hillis said.
The former NFL star — who notched a 1,117-yard rushing season for the Browns in 2010 and landed the cover of Madden — was battling to stay afloat in 10-to-12-foot waves while carrying his 130-pound son.
“You can’t swim and you’re holding him, you’re seeing his eyes roll back in the back of his head,” Hillis said.
He remembered thinking, “Lord, please. Like, I really don’t care about my life. I don’t. But if we can get him out of here that’s the only thing I’m going to care about.”
Hillis eventually made it close enough to the shore and began walking his son to the beach.
When they were about 20 to 30 yards from the beach, Hillis said that’s when he lost consciousness and began to experience lung and kidney failure.
At the time, photos from the rescue scene showed lifeguards and medical personnel tending to Hillis on the beach in Pensacola, Fla., where he was eventually airlifted by helicopter to Pensacola’s Baptist Hospital, where he was sedated and placed on a ventilator in the ICU.
After about 10 days, Hillis regained consciousness and spent another two weeks recovering in the ICU.
He said the first thing he remembers is his mom, daughter, and sister standing around him.
“To their credit, I mean, they all act like everything was normal, everything was fine, which calmed me down… I couldn’t move. I mean, I couldn’t move my body,” Hillis said.
At the time, Hillis’ uncle, Greg Hillis, had been sharing updates about his condition on Facebook.
A prayer vigil was held for Hillis in his native Arkansas inside the football stadium at Shiloh Christian during his hospitalization.
Hillis revealed that he still has a ways to go in making a full recovery, both mentally and physically, nearly five months after the accident.
“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.”
His niece and son have since recovered from the incident, according to GMA.
Hillis added that he doesn’t call himself “a hero” — and instead said, “I call myself a dad.”
Hillis, who was selected by the Broncos in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft, spent two seasons in Denver before stints with the Browns, Chiefs, and Giants.
He was released by the Giants in the 2015 offseason and later retired.