'Miracle' lottery win to let man visit gravely ill nephew, 7

Oct 14, 2013, 4:41 pm (21 comments)

Illinois Lottery

BLOOMINGTON, Il. — Conrad Selle's sister in France called Sunday with bad news: If he wants to see his 7-year-old nephew, who is losing a hard-fought battle with leukemia, he should come now.

"It was weighing on my heart," said the computer systems analyst who still is recovering from being out of work until March. "I had no way to pay for it."

Then, that night, he won $10,000 in the lottery.

Thanks to what he said must be "a providential thing," Selle and his son, Lucas, 15, will leave Monday for Paris. Beyond that, Selle hopes his experience will inspire people to pray for a bigger miracle, the healing of his nephew, Matthew Cloche.

Illinois Lottery spokesman Mike Lang said he has seen a lot of prizes awarded in his 23 years with the lottery, but his meeting with Selle when he came to claim the prize Monday at the lottery office in Springfield was "one of the more touching and unique."

"He clearly felt this was somehow a gift from a higher power," Lang said. "I was touched by it, by his sincerity and his faith."

Matthew, the son of Selle's sister Marcellette Cloche of Fontainebleau, near Paris, has been battling acute myeloid leukemia, which is relatively uncommon and aggressive in children, Selle said. A bone marrow transplant last month didn't take, and now treatment has shifted to maintaining quality of life.

On Sunday, Selle's sister called from a Paris hospital, where Matthew, who was diagnosed in February, was being treated for a lung and skin infection.

That afternoon, Selle was driving home from picking up dinner at Noodles & Company when he felt compelled to buy a lottery ticket. He has played scratch-off games from time to time with no great luck, he said.

So he stopped at a ticket vending machine at Shooter's Lounge.

"I felt this feeling that I should buy a ticket," he said. "I put $20 in. Figuring I would lose anyway, I decided to buy just one ticket."

He chose the $20 Illinois Millions game, which has a top prize of $4 million. The odds of winning $10,000 are 1 in 40,000, lottery officials said.

Sitting alone in his kitchen after his family went to bed, he scratched off the 32 boxes. There it was: a match for winning No. 18 — Lucas' birth date — and the amount of the prize.

He was elated by winning, but he found it was hard to share the good news.

He woke up his wife, Courtney. "I yelled, I won $10,000! She said, 'No you didn't. Go back to bed!' "

Lucas' reaction: "When he told me, I thought 'No way. It was a fake ticket.'"

Selle and a neighbor went to Springfield where lottery officials gave him a check for $7,000 — 25 percent is withheld for federal taxes and 5 percent for the state. Of the proceeds, $2,800 went for the airline tickets for Selle and his son.

His wife will stay home with their other children — Dalton, 13, and Claire, 11 — a dog and "two or three cats."

Selle, who works at State Farm Insurance Cos. for Randstad and attends Eastview Christian Church, said he is grateful for support from family, friends and co-workers, but the sadness of his nephew's illness was getting to him.

The lottery win changed that.

"I was losing hope, but now I have a second wind," he said. "God is taking care of us; he knows our needs. Now I am praying for another miracle."

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News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

Bloomington Pantagraph

Comments

Sherita's avatarSherita

A touching story that was truly God Sent!

My Prayers to the family!

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Congratulations on your win Mr. Selle praying for your nephew this was definitely a blessing from GODBlue Angel

grwurston's avatargrwurston

Quote: Originally posted by dallascowboyfan on Oct 14, 2013

Congratulations on your win Mr. Selle praying for your nephew this was definitely a blessing from GODBlue Angel

Hopefully, this will not be the only miracle to to your family.  Smiley

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by grwurston on Oct 14, 2013

Hopefully, this will not be the only miracle to to your family.  Smiley

Ditto I Agree!

Saylorgirl's avatarSaylorgirl

Congratulations and prayers for your nephew and family.

Piaceri

Amazing how these things happen. Congrats!

Praying for the nephew in far off France.

Nikkicute's avatarNikkicute

What a sweet story, just in time, it was meant to be!

MzDuffleBaglady's avatarMzDuffleBaglady

Party

 

Blessings.

hit tonite's avatarhit tonite

May God bless their trip, and heal his nephew in Jesus name! Amen!

golfer1960's avatargolfer1960

What a great lottery story Todd!

 

Thank you

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Nicest story of the year.

 

Notre père, qui êtes aux cieux.
Que votre nom soit sanctificié.
Que votre règne vienne.
Que votre volonté soit faite, sur la terre comme au ciel.
Donnez-nous aujourd'hui notre poindre ce jour.
Pardonnez-nous nos offenses, comme nous pardonnons aussi a ceux, qui nous ont offensés,
et ne nous soumetez pas à la tentation,
mais délivrez-nous du mal.

Car c'est à toi qu'appartiènne, le régne, la puissance et la gloire, pour les siècles des siècles.

Amen 

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

This lottery $7000 net win presents several great opportunities!  Group Hug

golfer1960's avatargolfer1960

Quote: Originally posted by Artist77 on Oct 15, 2013

Nicest story of the year.

 

Notre père, qui êtes aux cieux.
Que votre nom soit sanctificié.
Que votre règne vienne.
Que votre volonté soit faite, sur la terre comme au ciel.
Donnez-nous aujourd'hui notre poindre ce jour.
Pardonnez-nous nos offenses, comme nous pardonnons aussi a ceux, qui nous ont offensés,
et ne nous soumetez pas à la tentation,
mais délivrez-nous du mal.

Car c'est à toi qu'appartiènne, le régne, la puissance et la gloire, pour les siècles des siècles.

Amen 

Please translate Artist. Smile

Nino224's avatarNino224

I'm praying for that little boy to live a long life.

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