Shannon’s Story

“Life-changing things can happen just by supporting a good cause.”

We caught up with Shannon, our Lottery 181 Winner, to talk about life after her win, owning your pay packet, and what new car she just drove away in!

“It’s certainly feeling real now,” says Shannon, speaking to us over the phone from her home in Perth. As Shannon is finding out, even if you’ve just had a life-changing win, your normal life goes on regardless.

“It’s been such a rollercoaster since finding out,” she says. “It’s a really good position to be in, but there’s so much to think about, and we’re also trying to keep everything normal with life and work and the kids.”

Shannon has put a portion of her $755,000 1^st Prize towards her mortgage and covering bills, and is trying to keep her feet on the ground.

“Now we’re starting to tell family and close friends,” she says, “they can’t believe that I’m not jumping up and down and shouting, but it’s just not like that, for me at least. The portion of our winnings we took as gold bullion was recently transferred, which just didn’t feel real!”

Shannon unveiling her brand new car thanks to The Deaf Lottery!

Shannon says the first time her win really sunk in was when her pay slip arrived and it wasn’t instantly diverted to cover bills and mortgage repayments.

“It was that moment when I thought wow, my pay is my pay!”

She says her husband had great fun “virtual shopping” at a recent 4WD and Adventure Show in Perth, but had even more fun when he got to actually upgrade the family’s caravan using some of the Deaf Lottery winnings.

After choosing the Mortgage Buster Prize Option, Shannon chose to give herself an early Christmas present with a brand new Jaguar E-Pace!

“It’s a lovely luxury car, but it’s still a small SUV-style, to suit my family,” Shannon says. “It’s got the sporty look about it, but it’s still an everyday car that can handle the things families carry – in our case, a lot of cricket bags!”

One of Shannon’s sons, who is “car-obsessed”, had his heart set on an Aston Martin (after spotting one at a Deaf Lottery display in a shopping centre), but thoroughly enjoyed helping his mum test drive some luxury vehicles.

“It’s a step up for him,” she explains. “He couldn’t really ever fit in the back seat of our old car!”

Shannon and her family will be driving in style in a Jaguar E-Pace.

Shannon’s other son, when learning of their win, had slightly smaller, but just as important goals.

“I could see the gears turning in his head,” Shannon remembers. “He said I know we’ve got bills to pay, and money for the house, but after that do you maybe think there’d be enough to get bikes?”

Shannon says it’s been an interesting experience explaining the win to her kids, and stressing to them that life goes on as normal.

“We’re not millionaires by any means,” she says. “We trying to keep it real. We tell the kids that ‘normal’ life isn’t about to change, but the money will make things easier for the future. It puts us in a position to help the boys, when the time comes for them to buy a house or something like that.”

“We tell the kids that life isn’t about to change, but the money will make things easier for the future.”

The other side of winning such a large prize, of course, is dealing with how it changes how other people see you, and indeed how you see yourself, both things Shannon hadn’t ever thought she’d have to deal with.

“It’s almost a mental challenge,” she explains. “It’s such a change in your life, and a change to your thinking, with such big decisions to be made. And then you start worrying about what people think about you. But you just have to keep grounded, and remember you’re still yourself.”

Still, the news has been a positive thing among many of her close friends.

“A lot of people have now realised that real people do win,” Shannon says, “and that winners do exist. So many people have said I’ll enter now, because I know someone who has won it! It’s a reality to people that life-changing things can happen just by supporting a good cause.”

We wish Shannon and her family all the best for the future, and thank them for their support of Deaf Australians.