GLEN ALLEN, VA (WWBT) -
A Glen Allen man who survived being crushed by his car is now back home and back to work. He says he owes it all to his daughter.
Alec Kornacki survived because his daughter, Lauren, moved a heavy car off of him and did CPR until help arrived. Alec was in the hospital for a month and has some healing left to do, but is expected to make a full recovery.
Alec says he doesn't remember any of what happened, but knows he's here today because of his daughter.
"Gosh, she saved my life," said Alec. "You know, that's even more meaningful and emotional."
Lauren found her dad under the car, yelled for help, then lifted the car off of him.
"I can't believe she had the presence of mind to look at the car and do what she needed to do to get it off me," said Alec.
"Thankfully I was able to respond with the correct level of emotions," Lauren added. "And was able to get done what I was able to do."
Lauren said she knew what to do because of her CPR training, and was able to restart Alec's heart and get him breathing again.
"When I heard that she did everything she did in the hospital, I looked at her and I tried to say thanks," said Alec. "I couldn't get through, but I started to cry of course. She knows how I feel. She's my hero."
Now the father-daughter duo wants their story to save more lives.
"It's really important to us for people to learn CPR, obviously because ultimately that's what saved my dad's life," said Lauren.
And as for that heavy car, they did try to lift it again...
"We both have, and it's pretty darn heavy," said Alec. "It's pretty hard to do."
"It's ridiculous!" added Lauren.
Alec had two fractures in his neck, five broken ribs, a fractured sternum, and a crush injury in his arm.
He's back to work and back to life, but still healing.
Lauren is now promoting CPR across the nation.
Copyright 2012 WWBT NBC12. All rights reserved.
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