Former NFL Player Recovers After Saving His Children From Drowning

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 in Landover, Md., on Dec. 1, 2013. Patrick Semansky/AP Photo

PENSACOLA, Fla.—A former NFL running back said he’s on the road to recovery after he nearly died while saving his two children from drowning in the Gulf of Mexico in the Florida Panhandle.

Peyton Hillis issued a statement on Twitter, thanking those who helped him following the Jan. 4 incident on Pensacola Beach. He was initially on a ventilator, but was released from the hospital in mid-January.