Ex-NFL player Hillis recounts rescuing son, niece from rip current off Florida beach

New York Giants running back Peyton Hillis puts his helmet on as he walks through a tunnel to the field before an NFL football game against the Washington Redskins, Dec. 1, 2013, in Landover, Md. When the former running back's mother pointed to his son and niece off a Florida beach and said they were drowning, he said he didn’t think and just ran for the water. Hillis saved the children from a rip current off the coast of Pensacola in January 2023, but he said in an interview broadcast Tuesday, June 13, that the scariest moment was swimming past his 9-year-old son, Orry, to his 8-year-old niece, who was in more danger. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

PENSACOLA, Fla. — When former NFL running back Peyton Hillis' mother pointed to his son and niece off a Florida beach and said they were drowning, he said he didn't think and just ran for the water.

Hillis saved the children from a rip current off the coast of Pensacola in January, and he said in an interview broadcast Tuesday on "Good Morning America" that the scariest moment was swimming past his 9-year-old son, Orry, to his 8-year-old niece, who was in more danger.

"I knew that I had to pass him up to get to Camille first," Hillis said. "Because, you know, if I didn't then there's no way she would've made it."

A man gave them a boogie board and after Hillis put his niece and sister on it, he turned back for his son.

"By the time I got to him, he was pretty much limp," Hillis said. "He didn't have any more strength in him to swim."

He described being unable to swim as he held his 130-pounds (60-kilogram) son amid towering waves.

"You're seeing his eyes roll back in the back of his head and you're just thinking, 'Lord, please. I really don't care about my life. I don't. But if we can get him out here then that's the only thing I'm going to care about."'

Hillis said that eventually he was able to walk toward shore and his son regained his energy and began to walk, but Hillis passed out in the shallows, about 20 or 30 yards from the beach.

Hillis was taken to a hospital, where he remembered seeing his mother, daughter and sister when he regained consciousness after 10 days.

Hillis was released from the hospital in mid-January and in late February he issued a statement on Twitter, thanking those who helped him.

"I just wanted to come on here and thank everyone for all the prayers and love y'all have given me," Hillis wrote. "It's really made all the difference."

Doctors have told Hillis that it will probably take him a year to fully recover and he said he doesn't think his lungs will ever get back to full strength.

"Physically, it's coming along OK, you know mentally ... it's coming along a lot slower," he said. "I'm just trying to take it one day at a time."

Hillis was drafted by the Denver Broncos in 2008 and also played with the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Giants. He retired in 2015.

Hillis called it a "100% miracle" that no one died in the Jan 4. incident, adding that it made him realize what is really important in life.

"If you're not here for your loved one, your family, your friends, why are you here?" Hillis said.