50/50 Lottery Grand Prize Winner, Philippa

When you come from a family of pranksters, when magic does happen it can be hard to believe.

When she was notified she’d won the Grand Prize in the August 50/50 Lottery drawing, Philippa got her first phone call mid-morning. “I was doing the dishes. The phone was in another room.”  

“The phone message showed Guelph General Hospital’s general number. I thought my husband, Steve, or I had forgotten an appointment,” says Philippa. “We’ve both had many there in the last few years.”

After he confirmed ‘no,’ she was puzzling over the matter when the caller rang again.

“Vicki, with The Foundation of Guelph General Hospital said, ‘Congrats! You’ve won 21,000 dollars. I said, ‘Yeah, right.’”

Luckily, Vicki persisted. Luckily, Philippa was sitting down, so she didn’t fall down in surprise. Luckily, she’d persisted in buying her ticket in the first place.

“I get regular notifications about upcoming GGH lottery draws, so I’ve bought loads of tickets for family. That day, I had a long conversation with myself about getting a ticket, then left it until I only had 30 minutes before the purchase window closed.”

“Then my computer’s firewall thought I was living in Montreal, not Guelph!” With the clock ticking, Philippa changed her computer settings and bought the eventual lucky number. “Something was urging me to do it.”

Steve’s initial response to her fabulous win was, “Yeah, right.”  Their cat, 18-year-old Tinky, just yowled.

It took a bit for her to convince Steve, but not about where to spend the prize. The first thing Philippa did was pay for a family dinner celebration of her second daughter’s 30th birthday. Soon she’ll pay off a line of credit for her car. Next year, they’ll pay off their home mortgage.

“The win has lifted a burden from us,” she says. “I might even plan a vacation.”

Two years ago, Philippa retired from 40 years of practice in peri-anesthesia nursing at Halton Healthcare. Her recent personal experience at GGH is one reason she buys tickets.

“The future plan for a new Guelph hospital is exciting. I know it will take time, but my oldest daughter, also a nurse (taking RN certification through McMaster) might get to work at the new hospital.” 

Until then, “Buying lottery tickets to purchase needed equipment or supplies for good use means my money is not wasted.”  And that’s no joke.