A HOSPICE lottery jackpot winner says her windfall is the start of a new chapter after losing her daughter to cancer.

Shirley Doolittle from Clitheroe was shocked when she scooped the £10,000 rollover in the East Lancashire Hospice lottery.

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The hospice had cared for her daughter Nicola before she died in August 2013.

Nicola who spent around two weeks in the hospice, lost her battle with advanced melanoma at just 38 after being diagnosed in 2011.

Shirley, 57, had been undergoing treatment for cancer herself when Nicola was diagnosed.

She says that the lottery win feels like the beginning of a new chapter for her and husband Jonathan, 53.

She said: "Jonathan and I both lost our mums to cancer and we decided we wanted to support a charity locally where you can see the impact and the hospice was our choice because of the care they gave to Nicola.

"When Gill from the lottery office phoned I thought at first that there was a problem with my payments or some kind of technical problem.

"Then when she mentioned the rollover it occurred to me that I might have won something.

"She asked if I was sitting down and it was only then that I thought I must have won. I felt numb and I couldn’t take in the news, then I got upset too because of Nicola and all she went through."

Shirley, who moved from Oswaldtwistle to the Ribble Valley in 1997 said she felt like winning was a blessing from God.

She added: "I’m a firm believer that some good has to come from the worst situations. Nicola gave a year of her life working for the church which included a visit to the Bethany Orphanage in Tanzania.

"With the help of our faith in God, Nicola and I held on to the hope that she could beat this disease right up until the end. She was a very outgoing and fun loving girl, enjoying life to the full. In her final year, she planned her wedding to Steve, and honeymooned in Italy.

"I’d like to think that the hospice will still be there when my time comes.”

The couple who have been married for 19 years plan to spend some of the prize on their garden, and are also hoping to go on a special holiday next year to mark their 20th wedding anniversary.