Napster
11-12-2003, 03:27 PM
Lottery winner to get his glasses fixed
A Chicago man says the first thing he does after a £3.2m lottery win will be to get his glasses mended.
James Gatzke said before the win his wish was "to have Christmas dinner in Heaven" with his parents because he was so poor and depressed.
Mr Gatzke was living in a house without heat and running water. He had suffered depression since his mother died six years ago and lost his job as a taxi driver in August.
For the past three months, he found himself begging and borrowing money from neighbours to buy food for himself and his seven cats, says the Daily Southtown.
He said: "It feels like I hit a home run in the ninth inning of the World Series. I still can't believe it happened. It's really sort of a miracle."
Rather than one lump sum, Gatzke will take 26 annual payments of $250,000 (£147,000).
"I am going to relax and take it easy for a while. And I am going to play the Mega Millions lottery."
Gatzke is expected to receive his first payment around his birthday on January 5.
Story filed: 12:47 Thursday 11th December 2003
A Chicago man says the first thing he does after a £3.2m lottery win will be to get his glasses mended.
James Gatzke said before the win his wish was "to have Christmas dinner in Heaven" with his parents because he was so poor and depressed.
Mr Gatzke was living in a house without heat and running water. He had suffered depression since his mother died six years ago and lost his job as a taxi driver in August.
For the past three months, he found himself begging and borrowing money from neighbours to buy food for himself and his seven cats, says the Daily Southtown.
He said: "It feels like I hit a home run in the ninth inning of the World Series. I still can't believe it happened. It's really sort of a miracle."
Rather than one lump sum, Gatzke will take 26 annual payments of $250,000 (£147,000).
"I am going to relax and take it easy for a while. And I am going to play the Mega Millions lottery."
Gatzke is expected to receive his first payment around his birthday on January 5.
Story filed: 12:47 Thursday 11th December 2003