Sometimes, a stroke of good luck can change a person's life forever, and for those of us who are struggling in life, that little bit of good fortune could make all the difference in the world.

If you don't believe me then this story might just change your mind: a man on his way to his last ever session of chemotherapy managed to win an incredible $200,000 prize on a lottery scratch card.

According to the North Carolina Education Lottery, Ronnie Foster  (who hails from Pink Hill in Lenoir County) purchased a one-dollar ticket and managed to win five dollars. He then decided to trade in the $5 for two more tickets, and one of them turned out to be the winning one!

Check out this news report all about Ronnie's big win: 

[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/1hbtS7fi-Q0L14jDU.mp4||1hbtS7fi]]
Foster, a retired Department of Transportation worker, has recently been battling colon cancer, and although he has medical insurance, a portion of his winnings will go towards paying off some of the treatment costs which his policy didn't cover.
Commenting on the incredible experience in an interview with CNN, Foster stated: "I bought a $1 ticket and won $5," Foster said. "I decided to trade it in for a $5 ticket. At the last second, I decided to buy two tickets instead of one ... I was already happy because it was my last round of chemo. Winning this made it my lucky day."

He added: "I saw all those zeroes and I froze. I didn't believe it until I gave it to the clerk at the counter to scan. When it showed, 'Go to lottery headquarters,' I started shaking. I couldn't believe it."

[[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/MuhammadLila/status/1188808830383091712]]

However, not all lottery wins end in happiness. For instance, why not read about the Michigan who was forced to split his $30 million lottery winnings with his ex-wife, despite the fact that they'd been separated for two years already.

A woman who spent her life savings on medical treatment for her daughter who was battling cancer has become the lucky winner of a $2 million lottery jackpot.

Geraldine Gimblet bought a scratch-off lottery ticket - the last one in the store - the day after her daughter had finally completed the last round of her cancer treatment.

The Florida mother bought the $10 card for the $2 million Bonus Cashword Scratch-Off game at a gas station in Lakeland, near Tampa.

She had initially been told by the clerk that the tickets had all sold out but after making them double check, she was able to buy the very lucky last one.

Gimblet revealed after her win: "At first the gas station clerk thought there were no tickets left, but I asked him to double check because I like the crossword games the best. He found the last one!"

After scratching off the crossword, Gimblet was stunned to see she had won the top prize of $2 million, and went to collect her winnings at the Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee, with her daughter and granddaughter.

She opted for a lump sum payment of $1,645,000, with the win coming at a poignant time for the family, as Gimblet had spent her entire life savings on treatment for her daughter who was battling cancer.

Gimblet's daughter, who has not been named, revealed she had cried tears of joy to hear her selfless mother had won such a huge sum.

She told the Florida Lottery: "The day before my mom bought this ticket, I rang the bell and walked out of the hospital after completing my last treatment for breast cancer.

"My mom had taken out her life savings to take care of me when I was sick. I'm just so happy for her."

Gimblet is not the only winner after finding the lucky ticket, as the store where she bought the card will also receive a bonus commission of $2,000 for selling the winning ticket.

The scratch-off game also still has three top prizes of $2 million left to be won - so the hunt is on for the other two lucky Bonus Cashword Scratch-Off cards that hold a life-changing sum.

Whether or not you believe in karma - Gimblet's good deed for her daughter has definitely been rewarded in dividends.

Featured image credit: REUTERS / Alamy

In an incredible turn of events, a mother-of-three discovered that she had managed to win £1 million on the EuroMillions lottery, a mere 10 minutes after being told she had beaten breast cancer.

Lynne Price, who hails from New Tredegar in South Wales, was diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2015.

Moments after opening a letter from her doctor saying her scan results were clear, her husband David rushed home from work to announce they had won a fortune.

[[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1988523978094406]]

In a later interview with British tabloid newspaper The Sun, Lynne stated: "I can't tell you what I said, it's too rude, but I was in total shock. I was shaking and totally lost for words - which never happens. I went and had a bath for two hours and just lay there trying to take it all in."

Meanwhile, her husband David stated: "I went home to tell Lynne but she had some big news of her own. The letter saying she had the all-clear is worth more than a million to me ... We’ve been doing the lottery since it started - you put your money on but you don’t really expect to win a million."

[[facebookwidget||https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1902086210071517&]]

This story comes just a few weeks after a man from North Carolina won the lottery just after completing his last chemotherapy treatment.  Ronnie Foster, a retired Department of Transportation worker who hails from Pink Hill in Lenoir County, had been battling colon cancer for years and managed to win $200,000 in the North Carolina Education lottery.

In a later interview with CNN, Foster stated: "I bought a $1 ticket and won $5," Foster said. "I decided to trade it in for a $5 ticket. At the last second, I decided to buy two tickets instead of one ... I was already happy because it was my last round of chemo. Winning this made it my lucky day."

Check out this news report all about the man who won the lottery after his last round of chemo:

[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/1hbtS7fi-Q0L14jDU.mp4||1hbtS7fi]]

Meanwhile, Lynne and David plan on jetting off on a luxury holiday to celebrate their 33rd wedding anniversary, before David will use some of the winnings to attempt to climb Mount Everest.

Maybe it's just me being a cynic, but there is something about this new wave of crowd-funding that doesn't quite sit right with me. While I have no doubt that the majority of people are raising money for a good and legitimate cause, stories like this one help sow a seed of doubt in my mind.

If you've been on the internet lately, you will more than likely have come across a GoFundMe appeal from someone on your social media timeline. Whether they're running the marathon or simply trying to raise the funds for a holiday, the motive behind this funding can vary from case-to-case. However, while a lot of people are happy to lend a hand and send over some cash, it's impossible to know where it actually going.

Sadly, the rise in this method of money-raising has seen a rise in people taking advantage of the generosity of others.

When Hanna Dickenson from Melbourne, Australia, told her friends and family that she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, they were naturally devastated. At just 19-years-old, Hannah claimed that she only had a matter of weeks to live and appealed to anyone she could to help fund her overseas treatment in New Zealand and Thailand. According to the teenager, the treatment could prolong - or even save - her life.

Obviously keen to see her return to good health, those close to Hanna set about raising the money for her, with them pulling together to raise AUD $42,000 ($32,000) altogether.

However, while the fundraising for Hanna was done in good-faith, the same can't be said for her motives. In reality, Hanna wasn't ill at all. Instead, she had plotted a plan in order to scam her loved ones out of a lot of cash to run her party lifestyle.

After receiving the money, Hanna continued her life of drinking, partying and extravagant holidays. However, much to her detriment, she wasn't exactly sly about it. After continuously posting images of her escapades on social media, Hanna was caught out by one of the men who had donated money to her cause.

"I started looking into it, doing my homework," Hanna's neighbour Nathan Cue, who had donated AU $20,000, said. "I spent a fair bit of time and sussing things out, and yeah, 100 percent scammed. So that's when I took it to the police," he told Australian TV programme A Current Affair.

Hanna, who is now 24, recently appeared in court and has been charged with seven counts of obtaining property by deception. She has been sentenced to three months in prison and 150 hours of a community service. She has also been sentenced to have treatment for her mental health issues and substance abuse.

Speaking about the case, Magistrate David Starvaggi described Hanna's actions as "despicable." According to the judge, she had "engaged in conduct that tears at the very heartstrings of human nature".

"People's desire to assist and social trust has been breached. These are people who worked hard and dug into their own pockets."

So, while I appreciate the generosity of those who give money to GoFundMe's, it's always important to check where the money is going. Sadly, there are quite a few rotten people out there.

It is always a tragedy when a young person dies, especially when their death could have been prevented.

Victoria Hills, a 20-year-old music and sound production student at Bournemouth University in the UK, passed away on February 4th of this year as a result of an ear infection. The young woman knew she was ill but had put off visiting the doctor because she could not afford the £8.60 ($12.20) prescription she would have needed to treat her illness.

Though she was a recipient of student loans, Hills had not yet received the payment that was due, meaning did not have the sufficient funds to seek medical help.

Now, in the wake of her death, Hills' family hope that her story will encourage other students and young people to visit the doctor or hospital if they suspect they might be ill, no matter how trivial or harmless the condition may seem.

"Victoria was so full of life. She had been in her church choir for 11 years and always played in school concerts. Music was everything to her," said her mother, 52-year-old Tracey Hills.

"She loved her two dogs and walking them on the beach. Everyone has a story about how she helped them. She even saved her friend’s life, but never mentioned it.

"The irony is that that week I’d started on an immunosuppressant drug and she hadn’t wanted to come home and make me ill.

"She started getting colds from when she moved to uni. She always caught them and everyone had fresher’s flu and this carried on the whole first term. At some point, she thought she had an ear infection, but she said there was no point going to the doctor because she couldn’t afford a prescription."

"At the end of January I was messaging her on Facebook, and she said she thought she might have had flu and was feeling a bit rough," Tracey recalled. "The last thing she said to me, on January 31 was ‘Right, I’m going to dose myself up on painkillers, then try and eat and get some sleep’ and told me she loved me. Then she sent me a GIF of a virtual hug, and I sent her a heart. I never heard from her again."

What is most heartbreaking about the incident is that Hills died alone, and her body was not found for at least a day.

The last interaction she had with anyone was on February 3rd, when she asked a friend for painkillers and told a roommate online that she was dizzy, and believed she had an infection. After that, she went to sleep, and it is believed that she died a matter of hours later.

Unfortunately, her roommates were all visiting their homes for the weekend, and only realized that they had not seen or heard from her a day after they returned on February 6th. Campus security were called to break into her room, at which point they found the music student dead in her bed.

Hills' exact cause of death has not yet been identified, though medical professionals suspect she may have finally succumbed to sepsis or blood poisoning, as one of the symptoms is light-headedness, which the young woman reported feeling shortly before her death.

Our thoughts are with Hills' friends and family during this difficult time.