Renae Shelby won $300,000 in the lottery.
A woman in the United States' Michigan created a mini emergency of sorts for her son after learning that she has won thousands of dollars playing the lottery. According to People, Renae Shelby was struggling to breathe out of excitement after learning that that she has won $300,000. Ms Shelby told the outlet that her son thought he was going to have to call 911 "because I felt like I couldn't breathe". The 56-year-old bought the winning ticket from a market in the city of Flint.
Michigan lottery officials said on Thursday that Ms Shelby always buys her tickets from a self-serve machine - the one she has always been using.
She cashed in some old winning tickets to arrange for $5 and the gamble paid off. The machine where she took the ticket from later turned out to be the winning ticket, giving her a prize of $300,000.
When she learned about her huge win, Ms Shelby got on phone with her son, according to the lottery officials. But the boy was not able to calm his mother down, who was struggling to breathe out of excitement.
"He thought he was going to have to call 911 because I felt like I couldn't breathe and could barely get my words out to tell him I'd won $300,000. It was so exciting!" she told lottery officials, as per People.
The outlet said Ms Shelby took home $215,250 after taxes were deducted. She told lottery officials that she plans to save the winnings, and is excited about what's to come.
"Winning this prize has opened new doors and will provide a lot of opportunities for me that weren't previously there," Ms Shelby said, according to lottery officials' release.