A 46-year-old migrant from Laos living in Oregon who has been battling cancer for nearly a decade won the $1.3 billion jackpot last month the state lottery confirmed after verifying his ticket, CBS News reports.
“I am grateful for the lottery and how I have been blessed,” Cheng Saephan told reporters at a Monday news conference where officials introduced him; Oregon Lottery regulation requires winners of major jackpots be named publicly and cannot be anonymous. “I am able to provide for my family and my health. … My life has been changed. Now I can bless my family and hire a good doctor for myself.”
Saephan said he is also sharing the jackpot with his wife and a 55-year-old friend Laiza Chao who added $100 to the pool for tickets to the lottery. After realizing he held the winning ticket, which the group will take as a single $422 million lump sum payment after taxes, Saephan said he called Chao: “I said, ‘Laiza, where are you?’ and she said, ‘I’m going to work,'” said Saephan. “I replied, ‘You don’t have to go anymore.'”