In early January, former NFL running back Peyton Hillis saved his son and niece from a rip current at a Florida beach.
Hillis, speaking to Michael Strahan of Good Morning America, said “it is 100 percent a miracle that someone didn’t die” in the swimming accident.
Hillis, who had a 1,117-yard rushing season for the Browns in 2010 and landed on the cover of the Madden game, said that the “scariest point” in the rescue happened “when I’m swimming to my son and I have to pass by him because my niece is in more danger.”
He said that he knew he 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.”
Hillis, 37, got back to the shore with his son and niece, but then Hillis lost consciousness and experienced lung and kidney failure. He was airlifted to a hospital and placed on a ventilator.
Roughly 10 days later, he regained consciousness. He then spent two weeks in the intensive care unit.
