Former NFL RB Peyton Hillis: ‘Miracle’ Nobody Died in January Swimming Accident

In January, former NFL running back Peyton Hillis saved his son and niece from drowning in a rip current while swimming at a Florida beach. He opened up about the harrowing experience in an interview with Good Morning America‘s Michael Strahan.

“It is 100 percent a miracle that somebody didn’t die,” Hillis said. It was his first time speaking since the accident, which occurred off the coast of Pensacola on Jan. 4.

Hillis described the difficulty of having to make the split-second decision to save his eight-year-old niece Camille before rescuing his nine-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 said. “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.'”

After saving both of them, the 37-year-old father of three fell unconscious upon making it to shore and started to experience lung and kidney failure. He was airlifted to Pensacola’s Baptist Hospital for treatment, and he was sedated and placed on a ventilator.

Hillis regained consciousness after 10 days and spent two weeks in the intensive care unit while he recovered. He announced in February that he was expected to make a full recovery.

Hillis, who retired from the NFL in 2015, played for the Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Giants during his seven-year career. After stepping away from football, he made his acting debut in an independent horror film, The Huntingin 2021.