14 May Essex Dad Celebrates £1M Lottery Win
A father of two, and dedicated keyworker, from Maldon in Essex believes karma is to thank for his life changing £1,000,000 EuroMillions win (Tuesday 5 May, 2019).
The lucky winner, Anthony Canty (33) has been working throughout lockdown maintaining the water quality for hospitals and care homes in central London. While many would say this was reason enough for his win, he’s also been a lifesaver. Anthony said:
“A few weeks ago I was on the bus heading home when I started chatting to the only other passenger, a policeman who had also just finished his shift. We were talking about the impending lockdown and what we were having for dinner when suddenly, totally out of the blue, he collapsed with a massive heart attack. Thanks to my work first aid training, and with help from the 999 operator I was able to give him CPR while we waited for the ambulance.
“The guy was airlifted to hospital and after 5 days in ICU recovered enough to give me a call to thank me for saving his life. Obviously, him being alive was magic news but he jokingly said that I was due some good karma. I’d say a £1 Million EuroMillions win is very good karma!”
Anthony discovered that karma had given him a EuroMillions UK Millionaire Maker win when he was on the 6.30am train heading into London for work. Checking the ticket he’d bought the previous night on his National Lottery app he was astounded to see he’d won £100,000 and immediately called his partner, Katie Sullivan (32). Anthony said,
“I called Katie to tell her the good news but she wouldn’t believe me and thought I was winding her up, so I gave her the numbers to check for herself. I heard her log-on and then she started screaming, and said ‘You div, it’s one million, we’re millionaires, you have to come home!’”
With Katie in complete shock at the news Anthony jumped off at the next station to travel back to the family home but not before calling work to let them know he wouldn’t be in. He said,
“I’ve worked for Ashford Environmental Services for more than ten years, so I know the team well. I called up and said I was really sorry but couldn’t work that day as I’d just won one million! They couldn’t believe it and thought I was joking to start with, I think they were more shocked when I came back to work this week carrying on as usual.”
Once home Anthony and Katie were able to celebrate, opening a bottle of Prosecco in the garden and toasting their good fortune before sharing the news with friends and family. Katie said,
“The night before we discovered the win we’d just bought one of our neighbour’s miniature Dachshund puppies for our daughter so when they saw us in the garden with a glass of Prosecco at 9am they joked that we were a bit over-excited about the new arrival!
“Of course we’re so pleased about the puppy, who we’ve been waiting patiently to arrive for months, but it was amazing to say that we were actually celebrating a massive lottery win! They cheered with us and we all decided the puppy needed to be called Lucky Lola!”
With the win all confirmed Anthony and Katie are turning their thoughts to the future and what the win will mean to them and their two young daughters. Anthony said,
“In the current circumstances nothing much will change but that’s okay as it will give us time to think sensibly about our future plans.
“I do know that I’m not giving up work, I like it and I’m proud of what we do so I’m definitely not giving that up. Although I will be taking some time off when it’s safe to fly again so we can take the girls to Disneyland.
“We may think about moving to a new house in the future but our main priority is to invest the money wisely so that our girls will be financially secure.”
Anthony and Katie are the 100th high tier National Lottery winners to be paid out since the lockdown started. Anthony said,
“We know firsthand this is a difficult time for everyone and good news matters. The people who we’ve already told about our win have been so happy to hear something good has happened so it’s nice to think that there are another 99 players across the country also sharing happy news with their friends and family.”
Anthony bought his winning EuroMillions ticket at The Tolleyshop on Spital Road in Maldon. Anthony’s winning EuroMillions £1M UK Millionaire Maker code in the draw on Tuesday 5 May 2020 was MWQG90983.
