Earl Livingston, 87, didn't even have to pay the $2 required to join the pool!
The New Jersey hospital workers who helped an elderly patient become a Mega Millions lottery winner told Inside Edition they wanted to do something special for him.
Earl Livingston, 87, left home to buy a ticket for that historic $1.6 billion lottery jackpot. He was on his way to his local store in southern New Jersey when he slipped and fell. He was rushed to the hospital with a broken hip — and no lottery ticket.
When he arrived at Jefferson Stratford Hospital, he was treated by physician assistant Kristine Trotter and registered nurse Steve Gurley.
Livingston was disappointed that he wasn’t able to get the lotto ticket due to what had happened. So Trotter and Gurley invited him to join the hospital staff's lottery pool and didn't even ask him to chip in the $2 for the ticket.
Lo and behold, when the drawing took place Tuesday night, the hospital pool won $1 million.
“I couldn't wait to go visit my patient and tell him, and let him be so excited,” Trotter told Inside Edition. “He was so appreciative and thankful.”
The hospital staff says that Livingston was their lucky charm and his family thinks it is so sweet they purchased the ticket for him.
Split between the more than 140 people in the hospital pool, the prize money for each person amounts to between $4,000 to $5,000 after taxes.
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