Dying Man Wins $1 Million Lottery—To Be Paid Over 20 Years

When 51-year-old Wayne Schenk’s doctors told him that he had inoperable lung cancer, he resigned himself to having only the year they told him he’d have left. Schenk, a lifelong smoker whose parents both died of lung cancer, is unmarried and has no children. After decades of working odd jobs in construction and government jobs, he bought a tavern on Main Street in Naples, New York a year ago. He figured he would just live out his remaining days tending to his tavern and spending time with his friends.

But just five weeks after his diagnosis, Schenk bought a $5 scratch-off lottery ticket and his hopes for the future suddenly changed. When he scratched off the ticket, he won a $1 million state lottery jackpot. At first it seemed like a dream come true, because Schenk knew the money would allow him to check into a hospital in Philadelphia that specializes in treating advanced-stage cancers. "I understand money can’t buy everything, but money can prolong things, you know?" Schenk said.

The problem is, the New York Lottery prize pays out in $50,000 annual installments over 20 years, and Schenk doesn’t have that long to collect. The Eastern Regional Medical Center in Philadelphia told him that in order to check in for treatment, he’d have to give them $125,000 up front as a deposit, and then another $250,000 available in reserves to be used as his treatment progresses. He can’t use his health insurance with the Department of Veteran Affairs, because it cannot be transferred to an out-of-network provider. A spokesman for the hospital said that officials are looking into how they can help.

Schenk cashed his first lottery check—which was $34,000 after taxes—but he is working to see if he can arrange a lump-sum payment rather than having the payments drawn out over 20 years. Lottery officials have offered him a lump sum of more than $400,000, but that would leave him only a little more than half that amount after taxes.

For now, Schenk drives to the VA Medical Center in Syracuse each week for chemotherapy sessions, and is looking into an experimental cancer drug trial in Canada. He has also petitioned his state assemblyman, Joseph Errigo, for help with his problem. Errigo plans to co-sponsor a bill that would give the lottery permission to award a lump sum in extraordinary cases. But enacting such a law might take longer than Schenk has to wait.

"If it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all," Schenk told reporters.

"We’re incredibly sympathetic," said Susan Miller, deputy director of the New York Lottery. "But we’re not able, because of our rules and regulations, to just write him a check. We’re absolutely willing to expedite the paperwork if he can talk to a bank or a company that does this."

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s office said it has no plans to intervene on behalf of Schenk. "The state lottery division is handling this matter," a spokesman for the governor told FOXNews.com. "The lottery division has tried to make accommodations to assist Mr. Schenk. He does have options. My understanding is that the lottery is working with a bank to accommodate him." The governor’s office said that making an exception for Schenk would lay the groundwork for other winners to seek relaxation of the rules, and that could be problematic. "We’re sympathetic to his plight, but there’s no way the lottery can bend the rules," the governor’s spokesman said.

Schenk, a former Marine who served on a troop ship off Lebanon from 1976 to 1980, says that the VA hospital is very good but is overwhelmed with "a hundred different things" and it takes the government a little time to come around to adopting newer treatments for illnesses. "I haven’t given up, but it’s getting right down there where time is of the essence," he said. "There’s only one way to go and that’s up. I’ve already been down."