Woman fighting cancer wins $1 million from N.C. lottery

A Charlotte area woman who has been battling breast cancer for the past six years won a million-dollar prize in a North Carolina lottery drawing.

Gina Short said she fell to the floor when she learned she’d won.

Short’s entry was drawn from more than 1.2 million entries in the drawing. She claimed her prize with her husband, Len, who has supported her during her surgery and treatments.

“I might have gone through the breast cancer, but this is the guy that told me not to run,” Short said. “I wanted to give up, but he would not let me give up.”

Short faces additional cancer treatments, but she said the prize is going to help her to “truly live.”

Short chose the lump sum payment and after federal and state tax withholdings received $415,500. She declined to take the $1 million annuity that has 20 payments of $50,000 a year.

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 11:12 AM with the headline "Woman fighting cancer wins $1 million from N.C. lottery."