2024 pans out to be fantastic year for cancer survivor

By Kate Northrop

CLEMENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey veteran who overcame a battle with cancer and a stroke that impeded his mobility won a $100,000 Jersey Cash 5 lottery jackpot.

2024 is turning out to be a great year for a New Jersey cancer survivor, who recently won a $100,000 Jersey Cash 5 jackpot.

Craig Reynolds is a long-time lottery player, and although New Jersey allows lottery winners to claim prizes anonymously, he was happy to share his story that is sure to put you in a good mood.

Reynolds allows his tickets to accumulate before checking them periodically. In doing so, he expects to see some prizes from the pile of tickets, which he jokingly calls "lottery contributions." He collected the pile of tickets that had been building up in his center console over the month and began checking them on his phone.

"I scanned the Jersey Cash 5 tickets one by one," Reynolds told the New Jersey Lottery. "Not a winner, not a winner, $2, not a winner, $100,000 jackpot, not a winner... wait what?"

He repeatedly scanned the jackpot-winning ticket over and over, expecting the result shown on his screen to change.

"I immediately called my wife to tell her that I think we won the jackpot," the winner continued. "She couldn't believe it either and thought there might be a problem with the scanner."

"Staff note: Our scanners work great!" the Lottery quipped in a press release.

Reynolds needed the extra reassurance that what he was seeing what real. He and his wife brought the ticket in question to the liquor store their son works at and had him scan the collection of tickets there.

As their son was making his way through the pile, Reynolds made a tongue-in-cheek comment about what could have happened had he won the jackpot. He was shocked when his son scanned the winning ticket and found it to be a jackpot winner.

"We won $100,000?" Reynolds' wife shouted in the store, drawing a bunch of curious eyes.

When Reynolds visited the Lottery to collect the prize, he explained how 2024 had been an incredible year and a "significant improvement" compared to 2023, which had been riddled with challenges. His fight with cancer and recovery from a mobility-impairing stroke had been difficult for him and his family.

He was thrilled to announce that his cancer is currently in remission, and that he has regained full mobility, he said to the Lottery. He wanted to share his story to spread hope to other veterans going through their own challenges.

Right now, the only challenge Reynolds and his wife face is picking between taking a fishing trip in the mountains or sunbathing at the beach, they delightfully expressed.

Reynolds bought his jackpot-winning ticket for the Jersey Cash 5 drawing on April 7, 2024 at Quick Mart on Whitehorse Pike in Clementon. He matched all five winning numbers, which were 8, 13, 18, 27, and 42.

The Jersey Cash 5 jackpot currently stands at $293,000 for the next drawing on Fri., May 3. The odds of matching all five numbers to win the jackpot are 1 in 1,221,759. Drawings take place every day at 10:57 pm Eastern Time. Tickets cost $1.

All winning numbers, prizes, and odds can be found on Lottery Post's New Jersey Lottery Results page right after each drawing.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)Craig Reynolds is a cancer survivor and long-time New Jersey lottery player who recently won a $100,000 Jersey Cash 5 jackpot.