Durham man hopes to reach Myrtle Beach beachgoers who saved his life: ‘I wish I could thank them’

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — It’s been only a few weeks since Mike and Saundra Burton learned that angels don’t just exist in heaven. Some live among us.

During a weekend family vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, they headed to the ocean with other relatives. Things took a swift turn while they were there.

Saundra said she looked out at the water and saw her husband swimming one moment and then floating face down the next.

“I thought he was playing to get us closer to him so he could throw us in the water. When I continued to look I said something is not right,” she said. “It’s a sight I don’t ever want to see again.”

Mike, a swimmer, said he believed a rip current took him down.

Four strangers, who were also beachgoers, were waiting on the shoreline as Burton’s family pulled him from the water. They identified themselves as two doctors and two nurses.

The strangers administered CPR until they were able to rush him to the hospital where a doctor delivered the news.

“He said we had to put him on life support because he can’t breathe,” she said. “Our God is that kind of God that can do anything.”

Mike spent a week recovering in the hospital.

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