A New York man's life changed when he struck it big with a scratch-off lottery ticket but things took a turn for the worse a week later.
<img src="https://media.8ch.net/file_store/99b39907596869715d07a07cf2e748028e417491d5c27545115da1621d7f44f4.jpg" style="max-height:640px;max-width:360px;">
<span style="margin-top:15px;rgba(42,51,6,0.7);font-size:12px;">Credit: ABC 7</span>
2018 started off as an amazing year for 51-year-old Donald Savastano, a Queens native living in upstate Sidney. Savastano played the New York Lottery's "Merry Millionaire" game eventually cashing in a winning ticket for $1 million.
When he picked up his winnings, Savastano said, "This is going change our lives, to tell you the truth." Savastano works as a self-employed carpenter and he said he planned on saving most of the money for retirement.
"I'm probably going to go get a new truck and I don't know probably go on vacation," he said. He also planned a trip to the doctor, something he couldn't afford to do prior to winning the $1 million.
Danielle Scott works at the store where Savastano bought the winning ticket and said, "He was self-employed. He didn't have insurance, he hadn't been feeling good for a while, I guess, and when he got the money he went to the doctor."
Savastano's luck changed for the worse when he went to the doctor and learned he had stage four cancer.
"He had a friend come and talk to me, and they told me that he was very sick and that he had brain and lung cancer and that he was in the hospital and they didn't think he was gonna make it," Scott said.
Savastano passed away on Friday, 23 days after buying the winning ticket. Scott added, "I was hoping that the money was maybe going to save his life."
An obituary for Savastano said he was born in Queens, New York and grew up on Long Island before going on to become a carpenter like his father.
"He was known for his high-quality work and perfectionism. He always tried to reach out and help those he could by teaching them 'the right way to do things'," his family said in his obituary.
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Source: http://abc7chicago.com/3008129
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