A terminally ill Stirling great-grandad has scooped a £1 million win on the National Lottery.
Ian Anderson, 77, and wife Marlyn, 70, say they currently have no real home comforts and are forced to live their days and nights in their living room.
But now they are looking forward to Ian living out the rest of his life in comfort after scooping the EuroMillions windfall.
Ian has pleural plaques and pulmonary fibrosis – which he believes was brought on as a result of him working in the construction industry for most of his life and being exposed to asbestos.
Marlyn said: “This win couldn’t have come at a better time.
“It will ensure Ian can have the very best quality of life in the time he has left.”
Stirling great-grandad ‘will be able to live the rest of his life in comfort’ after Lottery win
The couple, who have been married for 32 years, say a spacious bungalow local to them is top of the list of priorities, together with a new automatic car.
Marlyn continued: “As a result of Ian’s condition he is unable to get upstairs.
“His health is deteriorating, and he struggles to breathe so we currently have our living room set up like a bedsit. We have no other option.
“Buying a bungalow – and I think I have seen one already – will allow Ian to have his own bedroom and for us to have a sitting room too, all on one level.
“This will be so special as it is something we haven’t been able to do for such a long time.
“He will be able to live the rest of his life in comfort.”
Marlyn, who previously worked as a carer supporting people with learning disabilities and dementia, is now a full-time carer for Ian, who requires oxygen nearly all the time to help with his condition.
The Stirling resident says she and Ian had previously lived life to the full before his diagnosis, travelling to Australia and on other foreign holidays.
The couple say the win gives them comfort that Marlyn – along with their two children, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild – will be financially secure in the future.
Marlyn, who always plays The National Lottery online, says it was when she discovered she had an odd £4.90 left in her account that she decided to buy a EuroMillions Lucky Dip ticket.
‘I started to count the zeros – I couldn’t believe it’
She said: “I just thought, there is no point £4.90 just sitting in my account, I will buy a Lucky Dip ticket for the next draw.
“It was the day after the draw that I logged on to my emails just to see if there was any news about my ticket and there was an email saying there was good news about my ticket.
“I initially thought we had won £1,000 and I was absolutely delighted.
“I then started to count the zeros – and couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing – so I counted them again.
“I just kept thinking it couldn’t be true and it must be a scam.
“I was desperately watching the clock tick to 8am when I could call the National Lottery number to confirm if what I was seeing really was true.
“I couldn’t believe it when the person on the other end of the phone told me it was.
“I actually don’t think the news has fully sunk in yet. Neither Ian nor I can believe it.
“It still all seems very surreal. There is no other word to describe what we are going through right now.”
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