Massillon cancer survivor wins $1M, plans to give back to chemo center

MASSILLON, Ohio (WJW) – A Massillon cancer survivor is giving back to the chemo center that helped treat him after winning big from a scratch-off lottery ticket.

The winning ticket was sold at the Massillon Mini Mart on Lincoln Way NW.

According to Ohio Lottery , Michael Simons Jr. was out running errands when he decided to purchase the ticket on a gut feeling. He recently bought other tickets from the store, but those had been unsuccessful.

“Something kind of told me to go back to that store. It was clear across town by my house, about five miles out of the way so I went zooming past Home Depot where I was going to get the broom, went back to the store,” Simons told lottery officials.

At first Simons thought he only won $100, according to Ohio Lottery, but he quickly realized the ticket was worth $1 million.

Simons chose the $500,000 cash option. After state and federal taxes, the lucky winner will get $360,000.

The win comes just months after Simons received other phenomenal news during his cancer battle.

“I got a bad colonoscopy last year, went through stage 3 colon cancer… went through 12 rounds of intensive chemo and got a clean scan in April,” he said.

According to lottery officials, Simons plans on sharing his winnings with the chemo center where he received treatment.

“They got me out of stage 3,” Simons said.

He will also use the money to fix his teeth and give back to his dog’s veterinarian office.

The $50 “Billion” scratch-off game still has three top prizes, worth $1 million a year for 20 years, available. Read more about it and other lottery games here.

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