In May 2016,\u00a0Bill and Carrie Pendergast lost everything they had when a wildfire burned their house down. All they were able to save were\u00a0the family pets \u2014 Sydney, a spaniel, Lefty the bird and Ozzy the black cat \u2014 \u00a0three totes of photo albums and a box containing music cassettes.<\/p>\n
Since then, the couple spent time and money rebuilding their home, hoping for some miracle to change their lives. And as they say, miracles do happen!<\/p>\n
Bill was visiting his ailing father in\u00a0Newfoundland and Labrador in January this year. He bought $20 worth of lottery tickets\u00a0when he stopped at a gas station to buy his dad a 7UP soda.<\/p>\n
The next morning he found he’d become a millionaire!<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept looking at my phone and looking back at the ticket,\u201d he says. \u201cIt looked like the right number, but I thought my eyes might be playing tricks on me, and so I asked my uncle to look at my phone and call out the numbers \u2014 and gave my aunt the ticket to check them.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd my aunt looks at me and says, \u2018You just won a million dollars.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n