An NHS worker has said she feels “really lucky” after winning a £1m lottery jackpot just before getting the all-clear from her breast cancer treatment.
Maxine Lloyd said she was keeping an eye on her fiance, Wayne Tilbury, who had recently collapsed with a chest infection, at 1.30am when she decided to “have a flutter” on the National Lottery’s £30m Mega Cash Showdown Instant Win game.
The 50-year-old thought a phone notification she received during her first batch of radiography treatment was a message from her partner – but it was actually a message from her bank to say the winnings had been transferred into her account.
In the space of two weeks, Mr Tilbury, a 57-year-old builder, was taken to A&E with the chest infection, Ms Lloyd rang the bell to mark the successful ending of her cancer treatment, and the couple won £1m.
“I feel really lucky,” Ms Lloyd said.
“I’m here, I’m alive, and we’ve just had a bit of a cherry on the top of the cake really.”
The occupational therapist, from Kettering in Northamptonshire, said she decided to go public with her win to urge people to call their GP if they notice any changes to their skin or breast.
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She said her first purchase was an iWatch but the couple have already looked at buying a house – with one they had been desperate to get appearing on the market on the day they won the jackpot.
Explaining her reasons for going public with the win, she said: “We didn’t want to go public initially.
“But I’m really passionate that if one woman, or man, goes and just checks their skin or their breast… if there’s anything different, let the specialist tell you that – which is what they did to me.”
Ms Lloyd was told her primary cancer had been successfully removed on Christmas Eve last year but specialists recommended undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy to reduce the risk of the cancer returning.
She said: “I finished my chemotherapy and then a few weeks later started the two weeks of radiotherapy and I was literally on the table having my radiotherapy and my bag was in the corner of the room.
“My phone pinged and I thought it would just be Wayne checking I’m all right, because he’s not allowed in with me.
“When I got up and went out of the room, I looked and it was the bank notification telling me there was £1m in my bank.
“The timing – everything has just been surreal with the timing.”
Now she has had the all-clear from cancer, Ms Lloyd said she wants to “give something back” for the treatment she received.
“Life’s been a little bit mad and there’s lots of little things that I think will help – small things like… breast cancer gowns.
“I just want to give something back.”
