Lottery Winner Uses $40 Million to Help Cancer Patients
Tom Crist from Calgary, Alberta has been playing the lottery for years, but he isn't desperate for money. A retired CEO, he already has all the money he needs. When he discovered he won $40 million dollars, he decided to put it toward cancer research to honor his late wife.
Crist found out he won $40-million prize back in May while playing golf in Palm Springs, CA.
"As soon as I hung up from my cellphone call from Western Canada Lottery I never thought about it," Crist recalls. "We finished our lunch, we went out golfing." Not only did he not tell his companions that day about his lottery win, he didn't tell anyone else -- not even his own children.
The moment he received that phone call, Crist knew what he wanted to do with the money - he planned to donate it all to charity, specifically for cancer research. His wife of 33 years, Jan, died at the age of 57 in February 2012.
"I lost my wife to cancer two years ago," he says. "She was fairly young… She beat it for six years before it finally caught up to her."
The lucky winner says he will put the money into a family trust fund and donate it to charities such as the Canadian Cancer Society and Calgary's Tom Baker Cancer Centre.
Forty-million is a lot of money for anyone, but Crist knows that you can only keep so much wealth for yourself. "I've been fortunate enough, through my career, 44 years with a company. I did very well for myself," he says. "I've done enough that I can look after myself, for my kids, so they can get looked after into the future. I don't really need that money."
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