Life changing

Lucky shiny coins deliver big for Blackpool mum

A mum from Blackpool found five shiny pound coins in the bottom of her handbag, and turned them into more than £300,000.

Teresa Leahy usually plays one EuroMillions line every Friday, but feeling the shiny coins were lucky used them to get two extra Lucky Dips. One of these lines matched five main numbers and one Lucky Star, banking her £303,465.20.

The property developer didn't realise at first the size of win her special coins had delivered. She said, "I was checking my numbers and at first I saw I had matched two numbers. I then realised I had matched five numbers and just screamed out loud. I was on my own at the time and just thinking who can I tell? Who can I tell? I had won more than £100,000. I was thinking I had probably won around £121,000."

It took time for the full extent of her luck to become clear. "It was about five minutes later when I had started to calm down a little and looked to check the numbers again to check I really had won that I realised I had a Lucky Star too! This meant I had won an amazing amount of money. I was just jumping around the house and actually had to keep putting cold water on my face, thinking is this really true? Could this all be a dream?"

The win means Teresa will now be able to pay off her mortgage and live the life she has always dreamed of.

She said, "Everything just seems so unreal. I will definitely be paying off my mortgage and I will also be able to support two of my daughters with their travel dreams.

Teresa's two eldest daughters, Amber and Sasha, have always dreamt of travelling and the win means they can now pack their bags and leave in the next few weeks. "They have always wanted to travel to Australia and have been saving hard. Now I will be able to help them on their trip and enable them to stay in lovely places."

Teresa added, "I will obviously really miss them but this is something they have always wanted to do and as a mum you always like to support your children and help to make their dreams come true. Thanks to this win I will be able to do that."

Teresa, who intends to carry on working, says she has no plans to stop playing EuroMillions now. "I already have my ticket for this Friday. I always thought it could never happen to me and now it has – this is just proof dreams like this can come true for anyone."

The National Lottery has been changing the lives of winners and supporting good causes across the UK since 1994. In that time, there have been more than 7,000 new millionaires created and by playing The National Lottery you raise over £4 million for Good Causes every dayΔ.

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