Nebraska Lottery t-shirt saves winner’s life
Jimmy Brezina came into our offices on April 17 to claim the $20,000 top prize he’d won on one of our Golden Cherry Multiplier Scratch tickets.
Like every winner who comes in, we offered him a free t-shirt. Unlike every winner who comes in, Jimmy told us a Nebraska Lottery t-shirt saved his life once.
It was October 13, 2012, a Saturday, and Jimmy was working in the shop as a mold and pattern maker in Lincoln.
“They say Friday the 13th is bad luck,” Jimmy said. “Saturday the 13th is even worse.”
That morning he’d put on a Nebraska Lottery t-shirt underneath a corduroy shirt before heading into work. Jimmy was about five minutes away from clocking out, just popping some pin nails into the last mold of the day when he heard a loud hiss.
He turned around to see what the sound was, just as the moisture accumulator blew up a few feet in front of him, sending shrapnel across his entire upper body. The explosion was so loud it shook windows six blocks away.
Jimmy’s body was riddled with PVC shards from wrist to wrist. His head had been cut open pretty badly and he was the only one at the shop. When he came to, he said he was half blind from the blast.
“I was bleeding pretty badly and made a beeline for the bathroom,” he said. “It looked like a slaughterhouse in there. I didn’t realize how bad it was at first.”
Someone from the business next door heard the explosion and came running in to help. Jimmy was covered in blood and had chunks of PVC underneath his skin.
The paramedics came a few minutes later to take him to the hospital. They put him on a stretcher and cut open his corduroy shirt to see the damage.
Underneath they saw an inch and a half long piece of PVC that was heading for the vital organs in his chest that had been snagged by the Nebraska Lottery t-shirt he was wearing.
“That old t-shirt saved my life,” he said.
He got out of the hospital the next day and had to wear an eyepatch for a while and he had to keep coming back for years for surgeries to remove the shrapnel that was still embedded in his arms.
We made sure to give Jimmy two extra t-shirts for his trouble.
He bought his Golden Cherry Multiplier ticket and scanned it on the Check-A-Ticket machine at the store where he bought it. The machine said “Winner, take to lottery”, something he’d never seen before.
When he cashed in his ticket, Jimmy said that he’d lost his wife only a month and a half before his win.
“She’s looking out for me,” he said.
Comments
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[…] Brezina visited Nebraska Lottery headquarters in late April to collect his $20,000 prize from a Golden Cherry Multiplier scratch-off ticket, and […]
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[…] Brezina visited Nebraska Lottery headquarters in late April to collect his $20,000 prize from a Golden Cherry Multiplier scratch-off ticket, and […]
Pingback by Man collects $20,000 jackpot after lottery T-shirt saved his life – zanynews.info on May 4, 2020 at 7:00 pm -
That was wonderful the t-shirts saved your life and I’m sorry to hear about your wife hopefully someday you’ll find somebody as special as your wife was maybe not just like her but pretty close to her I’m glad to hear that you won the lottery that’s great keep your head up and keep goingGod is looking over you
Comment by Ollie Davis t-shirt saved your life that was wonderful that the T-shirt saved your life on May 6, 2020 at 1:41 am -
That’s wonderful that you won the lottery I’m glad you weren’t hurt too bad at your job God was looking over you and I’m sorry to hear about your wife maybe someday you’ll find somebody especially her but not a special she was hopefully you find to be close to her to complete your life and I’m glad you won the lottery again and hopefully you’ll have happiness the rest of your life and you’ll find somebody a special or as close as your wife was God bless you and have a wonderful rest of your life
Comment by Ollie Davis on May 6, 2020 at 1:44 am -
That’s wonderful that you won the lottery I’m glad you weren’t hurt too bad at your job God was looking over you and I’m sorry to hear about your wife maybe someday you’ll find somebody especially her but not a special she was hopefully you find to be close to her to complete your life and I’m glad you won the lottery again and hopefully
Comment by Ollie Davis on May 6, 2020 at 1:47 am
you’ll have happiness the rest of your life and you’ll find somebody a special or as close as your wife was God bless you and have a wonderful rest of your life I’m glad he won the lottery I’m 61 years old I never won nothing in my life I play the lottery I play with the scratch offs I do poker in the poker machines I never win nothing in my whole life I guess I’m not the lucky one why is your bad bald people are lucky and I’m very happy happy for them but enough about me find a date near days I might win the lottery I would be nice but anyway God bless you all and God bless the lottery -
[…] Brezina visited Nebraska Lottery headquarters in late April to collect his $20,000 prize from a Golden Cherry Multiplier scratch-off ticket, […]
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