'I'm Not A Hero, I Call Myself A Dad' - Peyton Hillis, Who Is 100% A Hero, Talking About Saving His Son And Niece From Drowning In The Ocean
Man, all the shout outs to Peyton Hillis. He made the decision to potentially sacrifice his own life to go into the ocean and save his niece and son. That's being a hero. His quote is unbelievable about how he's not a hero, he's just a dad. But you try to put yourself in that scenario. You try to think how you'd immediately act and save everyone. He did that. He acted immediately and luckily saved everyone involved.
It's weird being a dad. I say that as a father of two young sons and I'm sure plenty others reading this are dads too. You don't know what to expect from day 1. You're given this tiny human being, told to leave the hospital and figure it out. No matter what social media tells you shit isn't easy and fun all the time. It's also not the worst like you hear from others. It's a day by day thing and no matter what, they are there with you as you try to help raise a normal, good-hearted kid.
At the same time you know you'd do anything for them the moment you find out you're going to be a father. You want to do anything and everything to protect them. Now think about that when Hillis talks about having to make the decision to swim past his son in order to save his niece. That's a split second decision you have to make and I can't even come close to imagining that. Knowing your son is in trouble but your niece is in more trouble. Like Hillis said, he just knew he had to save his niece first in order to save everyone. Terrifying, but again, Hillis is a hero.
I can't say enough how much of a hero he is. He openly talks about the trauma is still hitting him. This is a guy who was a professional football player, a Madden cover guy because he's a cult hero. Yet he's battling every single day. He battled while he was unconscious and had to hear 'if he doesn't wake up.' Terrifying from start to finish.
But this is about him being a hero. This is about him knowing he's a hero. I know it's hard to accept compliments and things of that nature, but I hope everyone reminds him every day that he's a hero to all involved.