'Throughout I made a promise to myself to stay calm. I wanted to protect my mum from the heartache, so I put on a good show.'
A cancer survivor says he hopes his luck is on an upward trajectory after winning more than £100,000 in the National Lottery.
Jonathan Aldridge was 17 when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, but thankfully after months of grueling radiotherapy he went into remission with no signs of the cancer.
Now 32, Jonathan bought some Lucky Dip tickets earlier this year – and was amazed to find out he’d won a massive £133,173.20.
And now he hopes to repay the support he received from his family during his treatment after winning a EuroMillions jackpot.
Jonathan says he was ‘living a typical teenage lifestyle’ when he found a growth on his neck and was diagnosed with the cancer.
He was ‘receiving particularly aggressive chemotherapy’ at the hospital and was ‘lying awake at night thinking this might be it’, Jonathan said.
‘Throughout I made a promise to myself to stay calm. I wanted to protect my mum from the heartache, so I put on a good show,’ but when he was told he’d have to undergo radiotherapy, he ‘wasn’t confident [he] would make it’.
‘But six harrowing months of treatment later, I was one of the very lucky ones to be told I was in remission, and they couldn’t detect any signs of the cancer,’ he added.
Jonathan, an accountant, said he had undergone a ‘long journey rebuilding my physical and mental health’.
He plans to donate some of his winnings to the Young Lives Versus Cancer charity, using the rest as a deposit for a house.
He explained: ‘I shared the news of my win because hopefully it will show other people who may be going through a tough time that there is hope, and that magic does happen.’
But anyone inspired by Jonathan’s win and hoping to check their luck may have to wait, as the National Lottery app has been facing issues today.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
