I battled bowel cancer, debt and losing the family home before my £1M lottery win
When Desiree Home discovered she'd won £1million on the lottery she vowed there and then that she would one day write her life story. And the 66-year-old from Tunbridge Wells, Kent has quite the story to tell - surviving bowel cancer, losing her home and then scooping a jackpot win, which she says saved her from the "depths of despair".
Desiree was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer in 2008, at the age of 50, and it marked the start of a hugely difficult period, which saw her struggling with various health and debt problems, eventually leading to the selling of the family home.
"The seven years that followed my diagnosis was a catalogue of horror for the whole family," Desiree explains. "During my treatment I ‘died’ twice from respiratory failure in the hospital and spent 11 days in ICU. Then halfway through chemo, unrelated to the cancer, I developed Cauda Equina Syndrome, which required further surgery."
Just when they thought things couldn't get worse Desiree and her husband, Wayne, both lost their jobs. "With absolutely no money and mounting debts we had no choice but to sell our forever home and move away into a small mobile home, splitting up our family," Desiree recalls of the time. "I think you can safely say, we’d hit rock bottom."
But things all changed in August 2014 when Desiree received a call from Wayne to say they had won £500,000 on EuroMillions. When he called her back a little later she was shocked to learn they had actually scooped the £1million jackpot.
"I can remember that call from Wayne as clear as if it were yesterday, that moment when I realised that we could rebuild some of what we had lost and that the Desiree rollercoaster of life was rolling again," Desiree says of that life-changing phone call.
Despite Desiree still being on a cocktail of medication and recovering from her latest surgery, the mum-of-three was determined to join Wayne in celebrating their National Lottery win. It was only as she was sharing her story with the assembled press, that she decided one day she would write it all down.
"The phrase ‘you couldn’t write it’ springs to mind," she says. "I was standing on the bow of a boat spraying Champagne and holding a cheque with our names and a million pounds written on it, when just weeks before I had been desperately juggling the sums and desperately trying to stay stress-free to aid my recovery. I kept hearing ‘you should write a book’ and that’s where the idea came from.
"Admittedly it’s taken me a while to get around to finishing the book, but it feels right to finally publish my story, 10 years after our luck finally changed,” she adds.
The self-published book, And Then, is just one of the many bucket list items Desiree and Wayne have been able to achieve since their EuroMillions win - from snorkelling in the Maldives and buying a motorboat, to seeing their three children financially secure.
"As we started to rebuild our life, and tick long held dreams and 'if we won the Lottery’ plans off our list, we were able to create the stability we had missed for so long," Desiree recalls. "And without the financial worries I finally had the time, and the headspace, to focus on the right self-care to help improve my health."
Desiree says the period also enabled her to reflect on the "rollercoaster of my life". "From my life in the WRENS, meeting Wayne, an ex-Submariner, the trials and tribulations we had as we brought up our three children, and then the horrendous lows, to be followed by the incredible highs. I didn’t for one minute think I could write it all down in a book, then again neither did I think I would ever be a cancer survivor or hold a National Lottery cheque for £1M!"
While Desiree continues to have challenges with her health, she hopes her book will help others have faith that "even in the depth of despair there really can be hope."
"While I wrote the book for my own bucket list moment and for family and friends, if it helps just one other person to keep hope I would be overjoyed," she says. "We really don’t know what is around the corner on the rollercoaster of life, so I shall continue to grab every moment and live it as well and as thoroughly as I can."
Additional reporting SWNS.
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