A breast cancer survivor is planning a spending spree after winning nearly £56,000 in a popular lottery a decade on from her diagnosis.
Janice Gardner, a 57-year-old entrepreneur from Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire, feared she would have to prepare her daughter, Lacy, 31, and son, Liam, 28, for the worst after hearing she had the disease.
But she was eventually given the all-clear – and is now planning another celebration with her children and five grandchildren after bagging £55,555.
Ms Gardner wants to use the winnings to trade in her Seat Arona for a larger seven-seater before taking all the family on an unforgettable holiday to Disneyworld in Florida.
She’s also vowed to foot the bill for her annual trip to Spain with three close friends next May.
Janice Gardner celebrates her lottery win in the dog grooming parlour she runs from her home
‘I’ve gone from having cancer and thinking I would have to tell my children there was a chance I could die to having a cheque for nearly £56,000,’ she said.
‘I could stick the money in the bank, but you don’t know whether you’ll be here tomorrow.
Couple use £30k lottery winnings to fund IVF
A midwife and an obstetrician welcomed their longed-for second daughter in the hospital where they both work after using a £30,000 lottery win to pay for IVF.
Ellie Hinton, 32, gave birth to Matilda in Southmead Hospital in Bristol, where she first met her husband Cameron, 39, when they were delivering babies together on Christmas Day a decade ago.
The couple (pictured below), who married in 2018, faced a fertility battle but were able to fund IVF treatment with support from their parents and had their first daughter, Hattie, in February 2021.
They hoped to try for another child but were worried about the cost of paying for multiple rounds of IVF before their lottery win in August 2021 gave them the financial security they needed.
Matilda was born in November 2022 weighing 8lb 9oz.
Mrs Hinton said: ‘Due to the jobs we do it always seemed unimaginable that we wouldn’t be parents one day – it’s all I ever hoped for, so we were just over the moon that it worked.
‘Matilda is a very happy baby. Hattie is not best pleased about having to share me, but she’s getting used to the idea.
‘I realise how lucky we were that it worked in the end, and I have so much respect and sympathy for those going through infertility, it’s not easy.’
‘It’s free money to me. I might as well blow it.
‘Although money can’t buy you health, you’ve got to have it to live. I feel lucky – someone is looking over us!’
Ms Gardner was one of 17 winners in her postcode to share a £1million jackpot as part of People’s Postcode Lottery’s weekly Millionaire Street prize.
Each ticket was worth £55,555, with one winner doubling their cash prize by buying two.
After hearing she had triumphed in the draw, Ms Gardner said she channelled TV maths whiz Carol Vorderman to try and work out how much she had won.
But she was delighted when the total came out at more than double her £22,000 initial calculation.
‘There are 45 houses in the postcode, giving us just over £22,000. But then I thought not everyone would have subscribed,’ she said.
‘Still, it was better than I thought.’
The outcome could have been very different, with Ms Gardner revealing she thought about cancelling her ticket.
She said: ‘In the end I decided to keep it because, knowing my luck, it would win. And here we are!’
After receiving the all-clear from cancer, Ms Gardner gave up jobs as a school bus driver and classroom assistant to embark on her dream of becoming a dog groomer.
She now owns a thriving, home-based business called Pawfect.
Speaking with her beloved dogs Tallulah, a Jack Russell Cross, and Shih Tzu Lily at her feet, she said: ‘When I had breast cancer over 10 years ago, it changed my life.
‘I started doing things that I wanted to do. It’s bad that you have to go through that for things to change.
‘Now every day is a bonus.’
Ms Gardner wants to encourage others going through cancer that there is often still hope.
‘When someone tells you you’ve got cancer, you think the worst,’ she said.
‘But as I tell friends, it’s all doom and gloom.
‘I’m living proof that you don’t have to die with cancer nowadays.
‘There are such good treatments.’
The grandmother of five wants to use the winnings to trade in her Seat Arona for a larger seven-seater before taking all the family on an unforgettable holiday to Disneyworld in Florida
Ms Gardner was delighted to share the joy with her neighbours – as well as charities that benefit from ticket sales including The Wildlife Trusts and Marine Conservation Society.
‘The economy at the moment is terrible. To be able to help all these charities is wonderful. You get a bit, they get a bit,’ she said.
‘I feel privileged, ecstatic and amazed… full of emotion.’
She was presented with her golden envelope by the actor Danyl Johnson.
He said: ‘This is wonderful news for Janice. After everything she’s been through, she deserves this.’
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk