A family syndicate from Wales has won a £61m EuroMillions jackpot after buying a ticket because they felt like 'the luckiest people on the planet' following a lifesaving cancer operation. Sonia Davies, 53, called her daughter Stephanie, 23, to urge her to buy the ticket last Friday, two days after undergoing surgery in Florida to remove a tumour on her parathyroid gland.
Having been told by doctors that the surgery had saved her life, she felt she was 'on a winning streak'. 'I felt like I had cheated death. You just think, OK, we'll buy a lottery ticket, because I feel so lucky,' she told a press conference in Newport on Wednesday. The two women will share the rollover jackpot of £61,102,442.90 with Sonia's other daughter, Courtney, 19, Sonia's partner, Keith Reynolds, 55, and Stephanie's partner, Steve Powell, 30.
Sonia Davies said it had been a 'rollercoaster of a week'. 'I had my operation on Wednesday and until then we didn't know how serious it was. They told me that if it hadn't been removed it would have been fatal – and at the very least I would have lost my voice within a year.' She said her partner had been convinced they were the luckiest people on the planet after the success of her operation and insisted they needed to get a ticket.
Stephanie Davies bought six Lucky Dip tickets at a garage near the family home in Monmouth, close to the Welsh-English border, but forgot to check the numbers until early on Sunday morning. She then realised one of their tickets had all the numbers. 'I came back downstairs to find Steve and couldn't take my hand away from my mouth in shock. I kept saying, 'We've won, and I'm not joking,'' she said.
The family described their trip home from Florida as 'the longest flight of our life'. They said they were hoping to share their winnings with family and friends, but would also like a new oak-framed carport for their home near Ross-on-Wye. Younger daughter Courtney, a student at the University of Southampton, plans to finish her degree in psychology and wants to replace her VW Fox and buy an electric toothbrush.
