Juliette Lamour said she bought her first ever lottery ticket at the suggestion of her grandfather after turning 18.
Beginner's luck was very, very good to 18-year-old Juliette Lamour.
The college freshman bought her first ever lottery ticket after becoming a legal adult, at the suggestion of her grandfather, who said it would be a fun way to celebrate adulthood.
She won $48 million, making her the youngest person in Canada to ever win such a huge amount.
"He said to me, 'You just turned 18, go buy a lotto ticket, test your luck,'" Lamour said at a media event celebrating her win. "So, I did."
Lamour, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, scored big in a jackpot drawing that occurred in January. Lottery officials announced her massive win last week.
The first-year biology major at Algoma University didn't realize she had a winning ticket until a co-worker scanned it for her on his phone app.
"My colleague fell to his knees in disbelief," she said. "He was yelling, in fact, everyone was yelling, that I won $48 million! I didn't understand what was going on at first. I couldn't process the news. We kind of made a scene," she recounted.
She called her parents to share the news, and her boss told the overwhelmed young woman she could knock off for the rest of the day.
"I knew I couldn't focus on work and my boss told me I could go home, but my mom wanted me to stay and finish my shift," Lamour said. "My colleagues called out 'come and get her,' and my parents eventually came to pick me up."
So what is she going to do with all that money?
Lamour said she planned to invest some of it and perhaps take a trip to a far-away place with her family. But for now she will use it to pay for college, and medical school, so she can fulfill her dream of being a doctor for her indigenous people of Ontario's Garden River First Nation.
"I really want to come back to this area as a doctor so I can give back to my community," she said.
And she realizes the importance of keeping both feet firmly planted on the ground despite the heady experience of becoming instantly worth millions.
"I feel comforted knowing I am surrounded by the grounding love of my family," she said. "They will be with me on every step of this incredible journey."
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