Cancer Patient Wins $200,000 Lottery Prize on Last Day of Chemo: ‘I Saw Zeros and Froze!’

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A cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy had an extraordinary surprise en route to his final round of treatment. Fancying his chances, he stopped to buy a lottery ticket. After scratching off the panel, the man was confronted by a series of zeros: five zeros, to be exact.

Ronnie Foster, a retired Department of Transportation employee, pulled over on his way to the hospital to buy a $1 “Win It All” scratch lottery ticket from a convenience store in Beulaville, North Carolina. A habitual player, Foster used the modest $5 win from his first ticket to buy a second more expensive ticket. Then, feeling lucky, he shelled out for a third.

It was the third ticket that radically changed his day.

“I saw all those zeroes and I froze,” Foster regaled, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery press release. “I didn’t believe it until I gave it to the clerk at the counter to scan. When it showed, ‘Go to lottery headquarters,’” he continued, “I started shaking. I couldn’t believe it!”

“I was already happy because it was my last round of chemo,” Foster said, adding, “Winning this made it my lucky day.”

Foster promptly claimed his winnings from the lottery headquarters on Oct. 25, 2019. Foster’s take-home cash prize, after tax, amounted to $141,501. Foster immediately knew what he wanted to do with the money.

The recovering cancer patient explained that he would use a portion of the winnings to cover outstanding medical bills. “I have good insurance,” he explained, “but there is still some cost. This will make it a whole lot easier.”

Some of the money, Foster added, would go into savings, and with the rest, the green-fingered retiree planned to purchase a new lawnmower. Perhaps, he added, he would also buy a car.

According to CBS News, Foster was diagnosed with colon cancer in January 2019. He had surgery to remove the tumor the following month and had been visiting the hospital for chemotherapy treatments since April. As for his lucky win, Foster mused that he “just might have been in the right place at the right time.”

The timing, it seems, was crucial; the “Win It All” lottery that awarded Foster his fortune was scheduled to come to an end in November 2019. As such, Foster’s huge win was the last $200,000 cash prize that the lottery ever paid out.

After Foster’s story was shared by the media, it garnered a huge amount of support from the general public. “Finally, someone that needs it,” one viewer wrote on WBTV’s Facebook page. “Happy for the winner. Congratulations on last round of chemo!”

“So happy for him and prayers for his recovery,” wrote another.

Foster is not the first person to win big on the scratch-off tickets that day. Eight additional winners won big elsewhere in the state. The minimum win on Oct. 25 was $7,000; Foster’s was the biggest take-home cash prize of them all.

According to the North Carolina Education Lottery, ticket sales at large raise over $700 million per annum. One hundred percent of the lottery’s profits directly benefit education programs in the state of North Carolina.