Cancer survivor wins $5m on lottery after buying birthday scratch card

After just finishing cancer radiation treatment, great-grandmother Donna Osborne said she may spend some of her winnings on taking a trip to Alaska

Donna Osborne (left), aged 75, holding her commemorative check for $5m after winning a Lottery scratch-off (Pennsylvania Lottery)

A Pennsylvania woman who has recently battled her way through a breast cancer diagnosis has had her life changed yet again after she won a giant $5 million lottery prize on a scratch-off.

The 75-year-old Donna Osborne has now reached millionaire status in time for her upcoming birthday after winning the top prize on a Monopoly Own It All scratch-off ticket, the Pennsylvania Lottery said.

The winner told the Pennsylvania Lottery that she had just finished radiation treatment for breast cancer, making her lottery win “bittersweet.”

Osborne said that her stroke of luck was all down to her flight getting massively delayed while trying to board a plane to visit family in Florida.

“I was at the airport with my daughter. We were on our way to see family in Florida when the flight got delayed. Well, it was delayed so many times, I decided to go home. My daughter stayed and flew to Florida,” Osborne relayed to the Lottery.

“If I didn’t leave the airport, I would have never bought that ticket!” she said.

While Osborne had to deal with the frustrations of typical airport setbacks, the disappointing situation with her flights ended up having a very affluent silver lining.

Osborne said she scratched off her ticket at a Speedway parking lot in Leola. The Speedway branch at 3180 Oregon Pike will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.

“I could not believe my eyes!” she said. “I went back into the store and said, ‘Can you please check this? Is it right or wrong?’ Well, the clerk said, ‘It’s right!’”

“Is this what I think it is?” Osborne said to the cashier, she further recalled at her commemorative check acceptance event at the Lottery Headquarters in Pennsylvania.

“She ran a check on it, and oh, lord, she says that’s five million dollars. I says uh-uh. She took it over to the lottery machine and it came up real big. Five million dollars, I about fell over.”

After the confirmation from the store clerk, she called her daughter, who was now in Florida, to tell her the exciting news. However, Osborne said that at first, she didn’t believe her.

The lucky winner is a grandmother and great-grandmother who provides transport for the Amish community, a job she has been doing for decades.

Despite winning big on the scratch card, she told the Lottery that she doesn’t plan on retiring soon.

“I don’t know what I’d do with myself; I have to keep moving,” she said. “I think I’ll invest some of the prize, sure, but then go to Alaska!”

Pat Browne, the secretary of revenue at the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, said that Osborne told them she has been playing the lottery for a long time.

“It’s thanks to players like her that the PA Lottery is able to not only create millionaires but also help seniors live a good life,” Browne said.

According to their website, the Pennsylvania Lottery remains the only state that directs all proceeds to programs that benefit older residents.

Since 1972, they have contributed more than $35.1bn to fund property tax and rent rebates, transportation, care services, prescription assistance, and local services, including senior centers and meals.

The PA Lottery scratch-off that Osborne won big on went on sale on December 26, 2023, and is a $50 game that can deliver a top prize of $5m.