When elderly man Earl Livingston, 87, heard about the record-breaking $1.6 Billion Mega Millions jackpot, he decided like many other Americans to go buy a lottery ticket.
Unfortunately, as he was heading to the local store to make his purchase, his day quickly took a turn for the worst.
As he was crossing the street, the New Jersey man fell and broke his hip. Little did he know at the time that this misfortune would literally end up being a “lucky break”.
After arriving at the hospital, he told his story of what happened to the hospital workers. Livingston’s niece, Bobbie Mickle, elaborated on the events in an interview with NBC10 News:
“He told them he was on his way to buy a lottery ticket and he was disappointed that he didn’t get it,” Mickle recalled. “So they said, ‘Why don’t you go in with us? We’re also buying a lottery ticket.’”
In an act of kindness, a physicians assistant, Kristine Trotter, and registered nurse, Steve Gurley, felt bad for the man and invited him into the hospital’s lottery poll along with 141 other staff members.
Livingston gladly accepted.
Later on that week when the numbers were drawn, everyone was shocked when the staff lottery poll turned out to include a $1 million dollar winning ticket.
Livingston, of course, got to share in the winnings with all the other members. Trotter couldn’t wait to go visit her patient to tell him what had happened and let him be so excited. As expected, he was very thankful.
“I want to thank everybody. I appreciate very much and God bless you and have a happy, happy long life,” Livingston exclaimed.
His niece thought he was off his rocker at first when he said he won.
“I didn’t believe him when I got here,” Mickle said. “I thought he was confused, maybe from pain meds. And then the staff came into the room and they were saying congratulations. And I was like, ‘Wow, he really did win.’”
The staff members said that Livingston had been their good luck charm, and was the reason they won.
Trotter posed for a heartwarming photo with the man holding a blowup of their winning ticket.
The staff also took a giant group photo of everyone who participated in the lottery poll, and you can see the smiles across everyone’s faces. We can only imagine what it must have felt like to be among the one or two people who probably decided to save a few dollars and opt out of the hospital poll that week.
Although Livingston will need a hip replacement due to the fall, it is great that he was able to experience a little bit of luck in the meantime. The win definitely brought him some much-needed joy.
See the video below to watch the full story about the hospital workers and Livingston’s “lucky break”.
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