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Nineteen-year-old cancer survivor wins $250,000 on Friday night’s drawing
Nick Ruth has been playing the Lottery for just over a year, but he has developed a steadfast ritual in this short period of time: he only buys his Mega Millions tickets at the 7-11 closest to his workplace. This past Friday, Nick wasn’t scheduled to work, but made the drive to his favorite retailer because it “just felt right.” That feeling made him $250,000 richer.
A beaming Nick arrived at Lottery Headquarters this morning with his mother and aunt, and said that he bought three tickets on Friday but didn’t check them until late Saturday evening. After seeing that five of his six numbers matched the winning numbers, he checked them again and again. “I couldn’t believe it, so I asked my mom to look at the ticket,” said an incredulous Nick. “Once we figured out how much I’d won, we started to run all over the house screaming. After we calmed down, we looked at each other and started screaming and running again.”
When asked what he was going to do with his windfall, the young winner, who has been in remission from leukemia for seven years, said: “As a cancer survivor, it is really important for me to give back. I want to ‘pay forward’ what some wonderful local organizations did for me, so I am definitely going to donate money to cancer organizations.” He also plans to pay off his car and put money in his bank account.
While the nineteen-year-old graduate of Archbishop Curley High School is excited about his newfound wealth, he is still anxiously awaiting word about a law-enforcement position for which he recently applied. “I believe that things happen in threes: I won this huge amount of money; the Ravens won last night; and I’m hoping I’ll get this job. That would really be icing on the cake!” In the meantime, the dishwasher/barback isn’t planning on taking time off from his current minimum-wage job. “Nick is a kind and hard-working person with a great work ethic,” his mother added, “but he’s not going to let this win go to his head. He will be at work right on time tonight.”
The winning ticket was purchased at 7-11, located at 8507 Loch Raven Boulevard in Towson.
Towson resident Nick Ruth shows off his big win. |