Aids Patient Wins $7.3 Million In Lottery

A woman who was barely able to pay for her AIDS medication received a $7.3 million lottery check Friday.

Antoinette Distilio, a 51-year-old resident of an AIDS hospice, won a Quebec provincial lottery drawing Wednesday night.

“I’ve never won anything in my life,” said Distilio, who was flanked by her mother and 31-year-old son at a news conference. “Given my condition, if God allows, I might go to the United States to see if anything can be done for me.”

The woman was a clerk in a financial institution before she quit in 1991 to look after her health when she was confirmed HIV-positive.

Distilio said she wants to buy a car, and also plans to share her windfall with her friends, family, and an anti-AIDS foundation.