Richard Gauthier is a happy man today, but when he got the telephone call on the weekend telling him he won the hospital lottery jackpot, he thought it might have been a prank.
“I thought what anyone would think getting a call about winning a lottery on April 1st. It had to be a joke, right?,” said Gauthier.
“We only recently started buying HSN 50/50 tickets in support of the hospital and never even thought about winning,” said Gauthier, a former patient. ”I had a heart attack 11 years ago and spent nine days in HSN receiving care, and I can’t speak highly enough about my time there. I’m here to win the 50/50 because of them!”
Richard and his wife Maryann are the winners of the Health Sciences North 50/50 cash lottery jackpot for March — winning more than $793,000 (ticket # AH-11101473).
The couple from Espanola said they have given some thought to buying Maryann a new vehicle along with building a new permanent to house it.
Anthony Keating, president and chief development officer of Foundations and Volunteer Groups at HSN said public support for the lottery helps the hospital purchase much-needed equipment and resources not provided by the province.
“As a result of the continued support of the HSN 50/50 Cash Lottery for the North, we recently announced that we have been able to fund renovations to the radiation treatment bunker at the Shirley and Jim Fielding Cancer Centre," said Keating. "These updates will enhance radiation treatment for cancer patients from all over Northeastern Ontario.”
Tickets for the HSN monthly cash lottery may be purchased online by anyone in Ontario aged 18 and older.
For April only, all of the early bird and bonus cash draws are surprise amounts, starting with a cash prize that’s more than $10,000 on April 6, said a news release from the HSN Foundations office.
All prize deadlines are at 11:59 p.m. the day before the draw takes place, i.e., to be included in the April 12 th draw, you must have purchased your tickets before 11:59 p.m. on April 11th . Tickets purchased before 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, April 5 are eligible for every draw in April including the grand prize jackpot.
