Massachusetts Man Recovering From Heart Surgery Wins $1 Million Jackpot; Ticket Was in His Get-Well Card

A Massachusetts man recovering from open-heart surgery received not only get-well wishes from his childhood friend, but an unexpected $1 million after one of the three lottery tickets the friend slipped into the card ended up being a winning ticket, according to published reports.

On Friday, Alexander McLeish collected his winnings from the Massachusetts State Lottery’s “$5,000,000 100X Cashword” instant ticket game. He opted for the cash option and claimed his $650,000 prize, the amount before taxes, WBZ- CBS Boston reported.

The first three letters of the winning ticket were A, W, and M, McLeish’ initials. Then, he found the word “heart” on the bottom row, one of 11 words that meant he won $1 million, the Boston Herald reported.

McLeish of Attleboro told the Massachusetts State Lottery that this wasn’t his first lotto win. He said the same friend had bought him a lottery ticket for his 60th birthday, and that he won a $1,000 prize. Both winning tickets were from the same store located in Cadaver, Mass.

McLeish, who had the surgery in November, told the Herald he plans to gift some of the money to his friend, his adult sons, and “enhance” his upcoming trip, that he had already booked to the Bahamas before, KKTV reported.

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