A man is now being called a hero after he felt something brush up against his leg while swimming in a Colorado lake, KCNC-TV reports.

Angelo Mondragon says he turned around to see what it was. That’s when he spotted the toes of a 4-year-old just beneath the surface of the water.

“The baby’s toes surface. I saw the bottom of her feet surfaced and that right then at that moment that became my child. I was yelling, screaming, terrified. So I sounded very terrified but I felt an amazing calm,” Mondragon told KCNC-TV.

The girl was unconscious, so Mondragon rushed her to beach where two off-duty nurses were able to save her life.

The 4-year-old girl was taken to the hospital, but she is back home with her family now. The little girl calls Mondragon her hero, but he says he was just doing what any dad would do.

“I’m a father and that’s it. I saw a baby that needed help,” said Mondragon. “It’s something you don’t want to think about. You don’t want to imagine yourself in that situation.”

Found at ABC 13