Woman pulls car off dad, performs CPR to save his life

Alec Kornacki, and his daughter, Lauren (http://www.fox19.com)

Lauren Kornacki learned CPR several times. For years, she's worked as a lifeguard.

And, just a few days ago, she attended a CPR refresher course - never knowing it would come in handy so quickly.

On Saturday, the 22-year-old Mary Washington graduate saved her father's life, Fox 19 reported.

Kornacki's father, Alec, was working on his car, a BMW 525i. The jack slipped and the car fell on top of him. Kornacki was on her way out the door when she came upon him, unconscious and crushed.

"As I go to open the garage door I hear a primal scream, like…'dial 911!'" said Kornacki's mother, Liz.

Kornacki said there was no tire, and seconds later, she did what most would consider unthinkable, she moved a car weighing a ton and a half off her father's body.

"I just lifted up kind of right here and just kind of threw it, shoved my body as hard as I could then I came back and dragged him out and started CPR," Kornacki told Fox 19. "It flashed like, 'I'm going to lose my dad. His eyes were open; he wasn't responding to me. I knew I had to get his heart beating again, and I had to get him breathing."

Kornacki said she opened up her father's airway to make sure he could breathe, repeatedly telling him to 'keep breathing.'

Alec Kornacki's life was saved, thanks to his daughter. He's in the intensive care unit today, and doctors said he has not experienced any permanent damage.

"I told him what happened," Liz Kornacki said. "He just, the tears just come to his eyes.  He said, 'Thank you for saving my life,' and she just smiled her blue-eyed smile, and that was it."

Liz Kornacki said her husband was without oxygen and a heart beat for less than five minutes.

He has several broken ribs, some numbness and other fractures.

Click here for more from Fox 19.