Gina Short, NC Woman With Breast Cancer, Wins Lottery Twice In Less Than 3 Months


Despite having breast cancer, Gina Short, of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, may just be one of the luckiest people in the world! Not only did she nab the $1 million lottery prize in February, last month she won an additional $250,000!

Short, who was diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago, collapsed to the floor in excitement when she found out she had won $1 million in the Ultimate Millions second-chance drawing in February — her entry was one of more than one million. According to Fox29, Gina learned about her win during a visit to the lottery’s Charlotte regional office, and said the money would give her a second chance at life.

“I have a second chance,” Short said at the time. “That’s what my whole life is about, second chances.”

Short was given the choice to take the $1 million annuity that has 20 payments of $50,000 a year or take a one lump sum payment of $600,000. Gina chose to take the lump sum and after federal and state taxes were withheld, she received a whopping $415,500.

“If you would have told me, in a million years I still wouldn’t have believed you,” Short added. “I would have said, ‘No you’ve got the wrong girl,’ because that’s what I said to them when they told me I had cancer, ‘No you’ve got the wrong girl.'”

Gina claimed her February prize with her husband, Len, by her side, and he accompanied her again to claim her second prize when they realized she had beat the 1-in-2.7 million odds to win the top All or Nothing prize of $250,000.

“ALL OR NOTHING is the exciting new draw game where you can match ALL the numbers or NONE of the numbers and win the top prize of $250,000*. That’s right, EITHER WAY WINS! And there are also additional prizes for matching some of the numbers. Drawings are held twice daily at 12:30 PM and 7:30 PM and can be viewed at nc-educationlottery.org.”

“I might have gone through the breast cancer, but this is the guy that told me not to run,” Short said in February. “I wanted to give up, but he would not let me give up.”

Short’s winning numbers were called on April 29, once again leaving her in shock.

“We checked the same ticket six or seven times because we thought we misread it,” Gina told WCSH6. “We’re still in disbelief mode.”

Gina and Len will be taking home $173,125 after taxes, and Len says the money will be used for Gina’s cancer treatments.

“With what Gina’s been going through this helps,” Len said. “We’ll use the money for Gina. She’s the priority. She’s number one.”

“It’s not something you can put into words,” Len added. “For us to have the good fortune of winning not just one big prize but two, we are just very thankful for that.”

Len purchased Gina’s winning $2 Quick Pick ticket at the Publix on Magnolia Estates Drive in Cornelius after she told him she was feeling lucky. To win the game, you have to match all 12 numbers or none of the numbers. Gina did not match any numbers on the ticket.

[Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images]

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