PENSIONER Doris Foster got a welcome tonic when she arrived back home following a hospital operation to remove cataracts.

For the first letter she opened told her she'd won £2,000!

The 88-year old from Sutton Heath had been suffering from problems with her eyes for some time and an optician had finally diagnosed cataracts and arranged for her to enter Whiston Hospital for an operation.

But she got a bigger welcome home than she could have imagined when she opened her mail to to find a letter from the St Helens and Knowsley Hospice Lottery informing her that she had won this month's jackpot top prize of £2,000.

Hospice Appeal Co-ordinator Les Johnston said: "We were delighted when we heard the story. We are currently celebrating the Hospice Lottery's first birthday and I can't think of a more fitting winner than Doris to help us mark the occasion."

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