‘I got cancer all-clear... and then won £1m!’
COUPLE WIN LOTTERY 10 MINUTES AFTER WIFE GIVEN FOUR-YEAR ALL-CLEAR FROM BREAST CANCER
IT was a lucky week for New Tredegar couple David and Lynne Price.
Not only did they win £1m on the National Lottery, but just 10 minutes before David announced their win Lynne had been given the four-year all-clear from cancer.
Amazingly, just days later, David won £500 in the local rugby sweepstake when South Africa lifted the Rugby World Cup trophy.
“It is been quite a time,” David admitted. “Lynne thought I was messing around when I told her about the win, but then it slowly started to sink in. Then, when South Africa won the Rugby World Cup, I put the £500 behind the bar at New Tredegar RFC so everyone could have a drink to celebrate.
“I was dressed as a Zulu warrior because we had to come dressed as the team we had picked. It was a great day.”
Lynne, who had just got the cancer all-clear 10 minutes before David came home to reveal the win, said: “I thought he was joking, but he made me check the message and then it became more real. But it did take a bit of time to register. I just kept looking at them.”
David, 53, who loves the great outdoors, will use part of his windfall to put towards a dream trip to Mount Everest Base Camp next year, while Lynne, 55, is planing a trip to China because it has been on her bucket list for a while.
The win will help cover costs for the £3k adventure and David can’t quite believe his luck since matching the EuroMillions Millionaire Maker code on Tuesday, October 29, to win £1,000,000.
Unbelievably, David’s sister Judith was one member of a lucky syndicate from Cardiff’s Freeman’s Cigar factory who scooped nearly £3,000 each back in the 1990s, in the early days of the National Lottery, which this month celebrates 25 years of making millionaires.
David said: “It is pretty amazing to have two winners within one family.”
David was in work at British Airways, Pontllanfraith, when a colleague reminded him to try his luck on the local football club’s £5,000 prize fund, which is circulated at work.
It reminded David that he had two Lucky Dip EuroMillions tickets in his wallet, which he then checked on the app on his phone.
“Quite simply, I was gobsmacked,” he said.
David had an hour left of his 11-hour shift until his 5pm finish, but did the rounds asking various friends and colleagues to double-check his Millionaire Maker code for him.
“I didn’t get much done in that last hour but stayed on, even when my manager told me at quarter to, to go home if I wanted to,” he laughed.
“I was just shaking. Nobody could believe it. I was in a daze, but drove back home to Lynne, who was on the sofa after a hard day, and greeted her with our usual, ‘Alright, mush?’”
Lynne thought he was winding her up when he told her that he had won, until she checked with her own eyes and saw he had won £8 on one ticket and then the life-changing amount of £1m with the Millionaire Maker number on the other.
The first people they shared the news with were their three children, Daniel, 32, Kirsty, 26, and Ieuan, 24.
Both David and Lynne returned to work just days later and are planning on taking their time to consider their options.
David bought his winning ticket at Bal’s Best-one Convenience Store, New Tredegar.