Hero Daughter: Lauren Kornacki Lifts BMW and Saves Father's Life

A Saturday in August 2012

Lauren Kornacki, a 22-year-old recent graduate from the University of Mary Washington with a physics degree, went outside to ask her father if she could borrow the car. What she found instead was every family's nightmare.

Discovery

Her father, Alec Kornacki (52), was pinned unconscious beneath his BMW. The jack had slipped while he was using a wrench to fix a blown tire, and the 3,000-pound vehicle had fallen on top of him. His arm was caught across his chest.

Superhuman Strength

Without hesitation, Lauren summoned extraordinary strength. "I just lifted up kind of right here and just kind of threw it, shoved my body as hard as I could," she later explained.

She lifted a car weighing a ton and a half off her father's body�a feat that should have been physically impossible.

Life-Saving Skills

Once her father was freed, Lauren immediately began CPR, drawing on her years of training as a lifeguard. "I didn't even get through a full set before he started breathing again," she said.

The Physics of Love

As a physics graduate, Lauren understood the impossibility of what she had just done. Under normal circumstances, lifting 3,000 pounds would be beyond human capability. But in that moment, adrenaline and love overrode every physical limitation.

Recovery

Alec Kornacki was rushed to Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center with five fractured ribs, a fractured sternum and vertebrae, and temporary loss of feeling in his right arm. Doctors expected him to make a full recovery within a couple of months.

A Testament to Human Potential

Lauren's story exemplifies "hysterical strength"�the phenomenon where people display superhuman physical abilities in life-threatening emergencies. Her combination of impossible strength and expert CPR saved her father's life.