Cancer patient wins $200,000 lottery on way to final chemotherapy session

'Winning this made it my lucky day'

Ronnie Foster went home with $141,401 (£110,000) after taxes (REUTERS)

A colon cancer patient heading to his last chemotherapy session has struck the jackpot, after stopping off at a gas station and buying a lottery ticket that won him $200,000 (£156,000).

The patient, Ronnie Foster, said he initially bought a $1 ticket at the Short Stop Food Mart in Beulaville, North Carolina, and won $5. So, he bought two more tickets with his winnings and won the big prize.

“I was already happy because it was my last round of chemo,” he said in a statement from the North Carolina Education Lottery. “Winning this made it my lucky day.”

Mr Foster, a retired worker for the state Transportation Department, said that he could barely believe it when he scratched off the winning ticket. He said that the second of the three tickets was a dud, but the third showed the big win.

“I saw all those zeros and I froze,” he said. “I didn’t believe it until I gave it to the clerk at the counter to scan. When it showed, ‘Go to lottery headquarters,’ I started shaking. I couldn’t believe it.'”

Mr Foster then went to lottery headquarters in Raleigh, and went home that day with $141,401 (£110,000) after taking out taxes.

Some of the money will end up going to paying his medical bills, even though he has insurance. The rest is going into savings, he said.

“I have good insurance,” Mr Foster said. “But there is still some cost. This will make it a whole lot easier.”

Mr Foster is not alone as a cancer patient in America paying out big for cancer treatment, though he may be among the luckier ones. A study published last year found that 42.4 per cent of American cancer patients end up forking over their entire life savings for the treatment, averaging just over $92,000 for two years of treatment.