Former COVID patient says NC lotto win will help pay medical bills. ‘Just overwhelmed’
A North Carolina grandfather of six won a big lottery prize a year after he was hospitalized with COVID-19.
Donalise Stewart from Timberlake said he doesn’t know what made him stop and buy lottery tickets on his way home from work on Wednesday, Dec. 8, according to a news release from the North Carolina Education Lottery.
“I was feeling a bit down, thinking about 1-2-2-4 because my grandmother passed on Dec. 24, so I decided to play them,” Stewart, a warehouse worker, told lottery officials. “I was about to walk out the door when someone stopped me and asked if I was going to buy scratch-offs. Next thing I know I am on my knees – just overwhelmed.”
Stewart decided to buy a $10 “Platinum 7s” scratch-off ticket from the Timberlake Mart on Durham Road.
He told lottery officials he spent 15 minutes “jumping for joy” in the store when he realized he won a $1 million prize.
“I always wondered how I would react if I won,” Stewart said, according to the lottery. “Nothing prepares you for that feeling. I did not expect that. All I can say is that dreams do come true.”
He told lottery officials that the win comes a year after he spent weeks in the hospital with COVID-19.
“To think about it, one year ago I was in the hospital with COVID-19,” Stewart said, according to the lottery. “I was in the hospital for seven weeks. Now, a year later, here I am. To almost losing my life to true blessings.”
Stewart collected his winnings Thursday, Dec. 9, and chose to take the prize as a lump sum of $600,000, the lottery said. He took home $424,503 after taxes and said the money will “come in handy.”
“COVID-19 messed me up,” he told lottery officials “This will help take the pressure off with medical bills. We’ll save and invest some, maybe buy some land.”
Timberlake is in Person County, about 45 miles from Raleigh.
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This story was originally published December 12, 2021 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Former COVID patient says NC lotto win will help pay medical bills. ‘Just overwhelmed’."
