A Highgate woman is the lucky winner of the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance Foundation's 50/50 draw this week.
Emily Geroux didn't check her ticket until Thursday morning after she found out that a winner for Wednesday's draw still hadn't been announced. She had been talking about the draw with her husband over breakfast when she decided to take a closer look at her numbers.
"I realized I had the number and I just said 'I won! I won! I won!'" says Geroux. "I couldn’t believe it, I have never won anything before."
Geroux said she bought the ticket because she wanted to support a worthy cause. She's planning to use some of the winnings to buy a new truck with more seating for her grandkids and to replace their deck.
A total of 9,671 tickets were sold for the draw, accounting for 1,194,410 numbers.
"With tickets being sold right across Ontario, we are so thrilled to see the jackpot going to someone in our community," said Mary Lou Crowley, president and CEO of Chatham-Kent Health Alliance Foundation. "It’s exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time waiting for the winner to come forward after the ticket is drawn."
This year's Igniting Healthcare 50/50 jackpot totalled $172,870.
The proceeds from the fundraiser will go towards the purchase of a new C-Arm for the local urology program — it's an advanced medical imaging machine that uses X-ray technology.