Dad of 4 'Died a Hero' After Saving Son from Rip Current on Trip to Celebrate Daughter’s Birthday

“He wasn’t going to leave anybody out there,” said Lori McElligott, Mark Bryson’s partner of 26 years

A father of four died in Florida after rescuing one of his kids from a rip current.

Mark Bryson and his family were in Daytona Beach to celebrate his 7-year-old daughter’s birthday when his son and two family friends got swept away in a rip current on Friday, according to ABC affiliate WFTS-TV.

Beach Safety and Ocean Rescue Deputy Chief Tammy Malphurs said no lifeguards were on duty in that area of the beach at the time of the incident, WFTS-TV and The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.

Bryson raced into the water to try and rescue the trio. Lori McElligott, Bryson’s partner of 26 years, told WFTS-TV that he “got the kids to safety” before going back out to help a friend, who was still in the water.

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“He wasn’t going to leave anybody out there,” she told the outlet. “They fought to try to get to each other and it just kept pulling him further and further out.”

Lifeguards eventually arrived at the scene and helped bring the man out of the water, who had no pulse at the time, according to the News-Journal. He was taken to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries, per the report.

"Mark died a hero,” a family friend wrote in the description of a GoFundMe campaign set up on behalf of the family, which has raised over $5,200 as of Thursday.

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Bryson happened to be a big fan of fictional superheroes, according to WFTS-TV. McElligott said Bryson possessed many of those heroic qualities in life. “He was a superhero to his kids always, but I think he’s a superhero to a lot more now,” she told the outlet.

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More than 500 people have been rescued by Volusia County lifeguards in the last few weeks, per the reports.

Malphurs said people who visit Daytona Beach “tend to underestimate the power of a rip current quite often,” according to the News-Journal.

McElligott is convinced that her partner would have come to the rescue no matter what. “Mark would have done it for a complete stranger,” she told WFTS-TV.. “The fact that he did it for his loved ones is not a surprise whatsoever.”

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