A Texas family said a selfie stick saved their lives.

The Johns family of Houston was on vacation in Massachusetts when they got caught in a rip current in the Atlantic Ocean off Nantucket Island.

Erynn Johns, 16, and her parents were in the water, using a selfie stick to capture their vacation on video, when they started feeling the strong current.

"It was sucking me out so hard. I was trying everything I had to swim and it kept sucking us back out," said Erynn.

Erynn, who's an athlete, her father, a former Marine and her mother said the battle with the current was overwhelming.

The video shows Erynn struggling to stay above the water. Her father eventually was able to grab the selfie stick that was attached to the camera in Erynn's hands to pull her above the water.

"I think if I hadn't had that stick and my dad being able to pull me back in, I would have drifted out way farther," Erynn said.

Two lifeguards and another man pulled the family to shore.

The Johns family wasn't seriously injured.