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'Something Said Buy A Ticket': Cancer Patient Hits The Jackpot Not Once, But Twice

November 23, 2017

Diane Bishop / Credit: CBC

A woman with stage 4 breast cancer hit the jackpot not once, but twice.

Diane Bishop beamed as she held up a $1.5 million check in the Atlantic Lottery's office in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

The second jackpot is that she is finally, after several failed attempts, responding to chemotherapy.

"It's like this big ball of weight has been lifted off my shoulders," Bishop told CBC. "The stress is gone."

For a single mother with two sons, the disease has taken a toll. She walks with a limp, has trouble raising her right arm, has a weak immune system and struggles to get out of bed in the morning.

Unfortunately, she couldn't afford to stop working. Government support would amount to just over $1,100 a month, barely enough to cover her mortgage payment.

So Bishop did something unusual. She purchased a $20 scratch-off lottery ticket from the store she manages.

"It was weird. Something said, 'Buy a ticket' that day. I can't explain it," Bishop said.

Diane Bishop / Credit: CBC

The choice was life changing for her and her two sons.

"We were all jumping and screaming," she said, describing the moment she discovered the $1.5-million win. "It was like, 'Oh my God, oh my God, we actually won this and our financial troubles are gone.'"

News from her doctor a week later brought more hope: the chemo was finally working.

It was like winning the lottery all over again.

"It had taken the fluid out of my lungs. It has shrunk some of the cancer that is in my lung, and it actually healed part of the bone that's in my leg," Bishop told CBC.

"I really believe that it's the power of prayers. I've had so many people praying for me. They email me through Facebook, they come to the store, they call me, they text me, and they told me their churches are praying for me."