Life changing

Scratchcard birthday gift wins Rickmansworth grandad £1Million

When Roger Towndrow's daughter handed her dad his birthday card, he found two Scratchcards inside. One of these turned out to be his biggest and best birthday gift ever as it revealed a £1Million win. The cash will change Roger's life allowing him to make travel plans which he thought were a thing of the past, having been diagnosed with kidney failure a year ago.

Roger, a self-confessed laidback kind of bloke, barely registered revealing the £1Million symbol and instead handed the Scratchcard to his daughter to check.

He said, "My family have been joking with me that I should play poker because my expression didn't change but I can assure you that I felt a huge jolt in my stomach when I realised that we'd just won £1 million. I handed it to my daughter and the expression on her face was incredible, I'll never forget it, it was worth every penny of that win!"

Roger and wife Susan were both calm in their responses to becoming instant millionaires, their family were less so with shouts of joy.

"We are a really close family so it was extra special that everyone was there for my birthday so I could share that crazy moment with my girls. While there was plenty of laughter and excitement, our celebrations were a bit muted, a glass of iced milk for me and pot of tea for everyone else."

It was while calling the Lottery Line Roger finally grasped the scale of his win on the £100 Million Cash Spectacular Orange Scratchcard from National Lottery GameStore. He said, "The gentleman on the phone concluded the call saying, ‘well Roger, I can confirm you are a millionaire'. Now they are words I definitely didn’t expect to be hearing on my 69th birthday."

Travel plans

An electrician by trade Roger retired two years ago with plans to travel and enjoy his retirement alongside his wife of 47 years Susan. Unfortunately, a year ago he was diagnosed with kidney failure and since then has been undergoing dialysis three times a week.

Roger who also suffers with heart problems said, "You always have to make the best of the hand that you are dealt and despite the dialysis and my heart problem I try to live a full and meaningful life, which with my lovely family isn’t hard. However it has meant that lots of doors were closed to us, now they are open again and many of our worries are gone, it’s a magical feeling."

While looking after his 4 daughters and 3 grandchildren is first and foremost in Roger's plan, overseas travel to some special destinations is a dream which can now come true.

"Once I have looked after the family and made investments for the future, Susan and I will be able to take a couple of dream trips that with my health we had resigned ourselves to never doing. My father was in the Artic Convoys in WWII and use to tell us about the magic of the Northern Lights so we will look for a cruise that can take us there. As we both enjoy our sea fishing we'd like to pack our rods and head to Alaska to fish in those seas.

"This win won’t change my health but it sure as heck will make living with it so much easier – now that really is a birthday present to be grateful for."

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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