Lottery winner to help cancer fight

Hazel and Terry Grange toasted their £4.7m win with champagne

A lottery winner who has had cancer for 17 years has vowed to give a large chunk of her £4.7m jackpot to support research into the disease.

Hazel Grange, 50, from Surrey, has had five bouts of cancer since first being diagnosed and is currently on a course of chemotherapy.

Mrs Grange had no idea she had won the 2 August draw until she checked the numbers at a shop a week later.

She said she was giving some of the money to cancer research to thank people who had supported her while she has been ill.

Mrs Grange, from Frimley, has eight tumours on her liver and was first diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas in 1986.

Holiday in the Maldives

She and her husband Terry, 52, were staying with relatives in Towcester, Northamptonshire, when they found out about the big win.

People have been so kind to me during the illness period that I'd love to give something back Hazel Grange

Mrs Grange had gone to a shop to buy a ticket for the following week's draw when she asked if her numbers from the week before could be checked.

She said: "When the retailer said to me I had all six numbers I just couldn't believe it.

"Terry and my sister-in-law were setting up for the birthday party so I rushed back to the house to tell them we had even more reason to celebrate."

Mrs Grange said she had chosen the winning numbers - 5, 26, 28, 45, 47 and 49 - at random when buying the ticket at Sainsbury's in Camberley, Surrey.

The new millionaire said she planned to splash out on a holiday in the Maldives, her dream home of a bungalow on the south coast and had already sent off a cheque to pay off the mortgage on the couple's house in Frimley, where they have lived for 12 years.

Mr Grange, a financial adviser, intends to become the proud owner of a Jaguar Mark Two classic car and the Granges' two daughters Lindsay, 27, and Samantha, 23, will both be getting a share of the windfall.

But Mrs Grange pledged to donate a large proportion of her winnings to cancer research and said she would also be giving some to a diabetes charity, having developed the illness as a result of her cancer three years ago.

She said: "I see myself as a very lucky person.

"People have been so kind to me during the illness period that I'd love to give something back."