Record lottery winner to use winnings to treat cancer

A NORTHERN Ireland cancer patient who made lottery history by winning £20.1 million (€30.1m) in the British lottery will use her win to launch a global hunt for treatment, she said last night.

Just months after being diagnosed, Belfast housewife Iris Jeffrey, 58, has taken Britain’s record single jackpot.

Soon to be a grandmother, the mother-of-two pledged to splash out on family and friends, with a new washing machine her only luxury.

But her children have urged her to spend whatever it takes to beat the disease.

Mrs Jeffrey, who has undergone intensive chemotherapy for cancer of the gullet, is ready to contact experts worldwide. “The daughters want me to do that,” she said.

Her eldest child, 32-year-old Wendy, insisted nothing else mattered. “That was the first priority when we heard Mum had got the six numbers. It was just to see if there was any further treatment that could possibly be added to what she’s getting at present. We will be looking into that to see if there’s anything else we can do to try to get a more speedy recovery for her.”

It was only when the former home help saw an appeal by Camelot for the winner of the three-week-old jackpot to come forward that a cupboard rummage produced the winning numbers.

“I forgot about the ticket,” she admitted. “I wrote down the numbers and checked them against my ticket. I thought that I had all six but could really not believe it so I asked my daughter Wendy to check for me.