A man from North Carolina who was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 liver cancer is now planning on taking his wife on the vacation of a lifetime after winning $250,000 prize from a Carolina Black scratch-off ticket.

Richard Beare, a retired auto mechanic from Charlotte could not believe his eyes when he saw that he had the winning ticket.

“I recently got diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer,” he said. “I want to travel while I can still enjoy myself. My wife has always wanted to go to Italy, since that’s where her descendants are from. Now I can take her.”

Beare added that he does not normally play the lottery, but he stopped at a local QuikTrip to pick up some Powerball tickets after he heard his wife talking about the large jackpot.

“I only stopped because my wife asked me to get a Powerball ticket since the jackpot was so high,” he explained.

When he got to the store, he decided to also buy four $5 Carolina Black lottery tickets as well.

“The fourth one was the winner,” Beare said. “When I saw that I had matching numbers, I asked (the clerk), ‘What does it mean if I match the numbers?’ She said it meant I won a prize. I told her, ‘Well, I guess we just won $250,000 then.’ She was in shock and just kept looking back and forth to me and the ticket.”

After taxes, Beare is set to take home $176,876.

“This feels great,” he said. “It’s such a relief.”

It’s so nice to see a huge lottery prize go to such a deserving winner. We hope that Beare and his wife enjoy their vacation together!