Stage 4 Cancer Patient Wins $250,000 Lottery, Plans to Take Wife to Italy: "It's Such a Relief'
A man who was recently diagnosed with late stage cancer won a massive lottery prize — and is using the money to take his wife on her dream vacation to Europe.
Richard Beare, a retired mechanic from North Carolina, said he does not usually play the lottery, but when the state’s Powerball hit the $250,000 mark two weeks ago, his wife pressed him to buy tickets.
“I rarely play the lottery,” Beare told the North Carolina Education Lottery. “I only stopped because my wife asked me to get a Powerball ticket since the jackpot was so high.”
Beare headed to a local convenience store and bought four Carolina Black tickets. After scratching three of them with no prize to be found, it was the very last one that did the trick.
“The fourth one was the winner,” Beare recalled. “When I saw that I had matching numbers, I asked her, ‘What does it mean if I match the numbers?’ She said it meant I won a prize. I told her, ‘Well, I guess we just won $250,000 then.’ She was in shock and just kept looking back and forth to me and the ticket.”
The financial windfall is a stroke of luck for the couple who have run into challenging times as of late — Beare was diagnosed with advanced cancer shortly before winning the prize.
RELATED VIDEO: Luckiest Man In California Wins Two Huge Lottery Prizes in Two Minutes
“I recently got diagnosed with stage four liver cancer,” he explained. “I want to travel while I can still enjoy myself. My wife has always wanted to go to Italy, since that’s where her descendants are from. Now I can take her.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, stage 4 liver cancer typically means that the disease has spread to other locations in the body, often time the lungs and bone or blood vessels and lymph nodes. Liver cancer is treated using chemotherapy, surgery, radiation or transplant, and the 5-year survival rate for people who are diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer is 11 percent.
RELATED: Man Breaks Hip but Scores Big at the Hospital After Joining Million Dollar-Winning Lottery Pool
Beare claimed his prize on Monday, and after taking out state and federal tax, he was left with a $176,876 — a good chunk of change he never would have pocketed if not without the urging of his wife.
“This feels great,” Beare said. “It’s such a relief.”
