When Lauren Kornacki, right, found her father, Alec Kornacki, trapped under a car, the one-time UMW basketball player lifted the BMW 525i off him, performed CPR, and saved his life.
Just months after earning a bachelor’s degree at UMW, Lauren Kornacki ’12 learned a different kind of lesson – how it feels to be a hero.
In July, Kornacki saved her father’s life after finding him trapped beneath a car he’d been working on. The physics major and basketball player maintained that her Mary Washington experience helped her perform such a feat, as she struggled to contend with the fanfare that followed.
“My dad means everything to me,” she told ABC World News. “I’m having a hard time with this attention.” CNN, Fox News, and the New York Daily News also covered the story.
Alec Kornacki’s heart had stopped beating when his daughter found him pinned beneath his BMW 525i in the garage of her family’s Richmond-area home. She lifted the car off him, pulled him to safety, and performed life-saving CPR. Kornacki, 52, suffered broken ribs and other injuries – all minor compared to what could’ve happened had the younger Kornacki not taken action.
A pool manager, she’d recently been recertified in CPR, also a requirement for her student job with UMW campus recreation. Three years of lifting weights for basketball helped, too, she said.
“Lauren is so courageous,” UMW women’s basketball head coach Deena Applebury told The Free Lance-Star. “It doesn’t surprise me…that she jumped into action.”