Man who died for 14 minutes won $19,000 from scratchcard celebrating his survival and won $160,000 while re-enacting moment
Bill Morgan couldn't believe how his luck changed after he suffered a heart attack
An Australian man who died and came back to life won $160,000 when asked to re-enact the moment he won a car worth almost $20,000 from a scratchcard.
There's good luck, and then there's Bill Morgan.
In the late 90s, the Aussie man probably wouldn't have considered himself a particularly lucky person. He went through a stint of unfortunate events, starting with him getting injured in a car crash while working as a truck driver.
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He developed a heart condition and was given medication to treat it, but then sadly suffered an allergic reaction to the drug used to treat the condition.
Morgan had a heart attack and was clinically dead for 14 minutes and then in a coma for 12 days - with his family advised to turn off his life support.
But things began to take a turn for the better, with Morgan making a full recovery.
Within a year, he found himself engaged to his future wife and starting a new job. He was living in a caravan park in Melbourne's outer suburbs at the time, but he had another stroke of luck when he won a Toyota Corolla worth almost AU $30,000 (US $19,000).
A true rags to riches story, Morgan became every TV producers' dream. The story caught the attention of a Melbourne TV station, who asked Morgan to come on TV.
For the sake of the screen, Morgan was asked to scratch off a scratchcard just so viewers could get an idea of what he looked like when he won the car. But Morgan didn't need to act, because he realized he'd actually won again.
We're not talking five or 10 dollars here, but AU $250,000 (US $160,000).
In a rush of excitement, he said: "I just won $250,000. I'm not joking."
In order to celebrate his win, staff in the store popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate while Morgan called his fiancée to share the good news.
Now the proud owners of a new car and $250,000, the couple bought a new house and used the rest of the money to invest.
Morgan's story continues to go viral even today due to the circumstances surrounding his win.
In 2020, he recalled his epic stroke of luck and revealed that reporters from the TV station thought he was joking when he told them he'd won on his second scratch card.
“I said, ‘I’m not joking’ and all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought I was going to have another heart attack there and then,” he told the Mail Online.
Thankfully, that wasn't the case, and Morgan was able to enjoy his win as intended.
Speaking at the time, he added: “I won $250,000. The house I live in, I own. I’ve got a nice enough car that I own. Sure, I had to retire because the heart got too much and I’m riddled with arthritis, but it was all for the best."
Emily Brown