Miracle lottery prize comes one day after final cancer treatment

By Kate Northrop

LAKELAND, Fla. — After having dipped into her life savings to pay for her daughter's cancer treatments, a Florida mother won $2 million in the lottery one day after her daughter was declared cancer-free.

A Florida woman did not hesitate to fund her daughter's cancer treatments with her own savings. One day after her daughter completed the final round of her cancer treatment, she found herself holding a lottery ticket worth $2 million.

On Friday, Geraldine Gimblet, of Lakeland, claimed a $2 million top prize from a Florida Lottery scratch-off ticket at Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee, and the timing could not have been more perfect.

She had stopped at Pipkin Road Beverage Castle on West Pipkin Road in Lakeland and bought the winning ticket there, which belonged to the $10 "$2,000,000 Bonus Cashword" instant game. She told Lottery officials about how her persistence in the moment paid off.

"At first, the gas station clerk thought there were no tickets left, but I asked him to double check because I like the crossword games the best," Gimblet recalled. "He found the last one!"

It's a relief the employee was able to locate the last available ticket in the game – not only was it the winner of a $2 million top prize, but the significance of the win was great enough to move her family to tears.

Gimblet was joined by her daughter and granddaughter at Lottery headquarters when she went to claim her prize. While describing what the win meant to her, Gimblet's daughter was overtaken with emotion.

"The day before my mom bought this ticket, I rang the bell and walked out of the hospital after completing my last treatment for breast cancer," Gimblet's daughter said. "My mom had taken out her life savings to take care of me when I was sick. I'm just so happy for her!"

The loving winner opted to receive her prize as a one-time lump sum payment of $1.645 million.

Florida Lottery Chief of Staff Reggie Dixon came downstairs to join the celebration when he heard about the Gimblets' moving story and posed for a photo with the three family members as they accepted their giant ceremonial check.

Currently, there are three $2 million top prizes out of eight remaining in the $10 "$2,000,000 Bonus Cashword" game, which launched in May 2022. There are also eight out of 20 second-tier prizes of $100,000 and 345 out of 782 third-tier prizes of $10,000 left to claim.

The retailer that sold the winning ticket receives a $2,000 bonus commission from the Lottery.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)After having dipped into her life savings to pay for her daughter's cancer treatments, Geraldine Gimblet won $2 million in the lottery one day after her daughter was declared cancer-free.

Thanks to Artist77 for the tip.