UMW Graduate Rescues Father

By COLLEEN HUBER

On Saturday, July 28, 52-year-old Alec Kornacki, 52 years old, was working on his car when it fell on him, trapping him underneath it. Lauren Kornacki, a University of Mary Washington graduate from the class of 2012, saved her father’s life by pushing the car off of him and performing CPR.

“It was pure adrenaline, just doing what I was taught to do because I was a lifeguard at the time,” said Kornacki. “The only thing I was thinking was that this is my dad dying and I had to save him.”

The family congregated in the garage after getting home from work to talk about how their days went.

Kornacki, her mother, Liz and sister, Allie, went into the house, while her dad stayed in the garage to replace the right rear tire on his car. Kornacki received a phone call from her friend requesting that a pick-up when she went back out to the garage.

Kornacki said she returned to the garage to ask her dad if she could borrow a car to pick up her friend, when she found her dad pinned under the BMW.

The car had slipped off the tire jack that was holding it up and fell onto Kornacki’s dad.

“A table with a short leg is the best way I can describe it,” said Kornacki referring to the way the car fell on top of her dad.

Upon finding her dad, Kornacki did not hesitate to try to save him.

“I threw my body to move the car enough so I could slide him out, and I started CPR on him,” said Kornacki.

Kornacki’s dad was taken to the VCU Medical Center in Richmond, Va. According to Kornacki, he was released a week later on Aug. 3, but had to return the next week due to lung complications. Alec Kornacki was officially released from the Medical College of Virginia on Aug. 28.

“He is expecting to go back to work in a month, back to the usual and refereeing football,” said Kornacki.

Kornacki graduated from UMW as a physics major in 2012. She played basketball for three years, starting her freshman year.

“She got along very well with her teammates,” said Coach Deena Applebury. “She was well liked by her peers.”

Applebury heard about Kornacki’s father after receiving text messages from many of her players. Applebury gave Kornacki a day to calm down before calling her.

“I told her how proud I was of her and how absolutely amazing what she did was,” said Applebury.

Today, Kornacki has an internship with James River Air Conditioning researching a solar panel house.

Kornacki is also focusing on bringing awareness to the benefit and importance of knowing CPR.

“My family is really adamant on CPR,” said Kornacki. “I’m working with the American Heart Association and doing awareness rallies.”