NEW YORK — Peyton Hillis, the former Cleveland Browns running back who in January saved his son and niece from drowning in Florida, said “it is 100% a miracle that somebody didn’t die.”
Hillis, 37, made the comments Tuesday during an interview with Michael Strahan on ABC’s “Good Morning, America” in which he recalled having to rush into the Atlantic Ocean to help his 9-year-old son, Orry, and 8-year-old niece, Camille. Both children began struggling after they were caught in a rip current in the water in Pensacola, Fla.
Hillis says his mother screamed to him that the children were in trouble.
“So I didn’t even think, I just reacted and started running to the water,” Hillis said.
He says that he had to make the difficult decision to swim past his son in order to first help his niece, who was farther out in the water.
“I think the scariest point to me was when I’m swimming to my son and I have to pass by him because my niece is in more danger,” Hillis says during the interview. “But 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.”
He says that when he reached his niece, she started “freaking out” and yelling “We’re gonna die, we’re gonna die!” Hillis replied, “Honey, you’re not gonna die.”
He says a man reached him with a boogie board and he put his niece and sister on the board, then went back out to get his son. He says by the time he reached him “he was pretty much limp” because of exhaustion.
Holding his son in about 7½ feet of water while getting pummeled by 10- to -12-foot waves, Hillis says he was struggling to get back to shore.
“You’re just thinking, ‘Lord, please ... I really don’t care about my life,” he said. “But if we can get him out of here then that’s the only thing I’m going to care about.”
Hillis somehow made it back to shore with his son. But Hillis soon collapsed and the report shows rescue workers giving him medical aid following the rescue. He was flown by helicopter to a hospital and spent two weeks in intensive care. He regained consciousness after 10 days.
He said that physical recovery is “coming along OK,” but his mental recovery is going slowly.
“I’m just trying to take it one day at a time,” he said. “It makes you realize what’s really important.”
Hillis, 36, played seven seasons in the NFL, starting with the Denver Broncos. He had a breakout season in 2010, his first with the Browns, when he ran for 1,177 yards, had 477 yards receiving and scored 13 touchdowns. He was featured on the cover of the Madden 12 football video game.
He was unable to duplicate that success and played only one more season with the Browns. He played three more seasons after leaving Cleveland, one in Kansas City and two with the New York Giants.