‘I was lying in hospital bed thinking I was about to die when I found out i’d won £144,000’

Gail Wood ‘s husband thought she was ‘off her head’ on hospital drugs when she phoned to let him know

A woman won £144,000 – while she was lying in a hospital bed convinced she might die. Gail Wood, 54, had gone into major hysterectomy surgery and even messaged her loved ones afterwards to let them know she had survived.

After the surgery, she listened to a voicemail that told her she had won the People’s Postcode Lottery – and £12,000 would be going into her bank account every month for an entire year.

Gail, a fire control operator, said: “I never ever expected to win anything like this. It’s nothing short of life-changing. I’d literally just come out of the recovery room after surgery and remember thinking, ‘I’d better message people to say I’m alive’, because I’d got it into my head I wasn’t going to make it.

“I genuinely thought I might die. I then saw that I had a voicemail from Postcode Lottery, and they said I’d won a prize, and they’d be coming to my street the very next day.”

To Gail’s delight, the caller knew exactly how long she had been playing and how much she had helped raise for charity over the years. Gail explained: “The guy on the phone told me I’d been playing since 2009 and that I’d personally raised hundreds of pounds for charity. That’s when I thought, ‘this sounds real’.”

The women in the neighbouring hospital beds started listening in to Gail’s discussion, before Gail said to them: “I think People’s Postcode Lottery are coming to knock on my door.”

Gail said she immediately rang her husband Jason, 56, who did not believe his wife at first because he thought she was hallucinating after the surgery. She explained: “He thought I was making it up because of the drugs. He said, ‘You’re off your head.’”

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When he finally believed her, Jason said he had a dream about winning the lottery just a few days prior. Jason, a retired watch manager of Hartlepool fire station, said: “I never dream.

“And if I do, I never remember them. But this one stuck with me. It wasn’t about buying flashy things. We had won a large amount of money, and I was sitting there saying, ‘How much do we give the kids?’”

Both Gail and Jason, who share three children and five grandchildren, spent their working lives in the fire service – Jason on the front line and Gail behind the scenes in the control room. The morning after Gail returned home from hospital, she received a knock on the door from the lottery team.

She discovered she and two other neighbours in their seaside village, Seaton Carew, in Durham, had landed Postcode Lottery’s ‘An Unforgettable Year’ prize. Gail said she is delighted to turn 55 in September – the age at which she could choose to retire.

She said: “To have that choice is amazing. You take a hit on your pension if you go early, but something like this really makes a difference.”

Despite the six-figure win, Gail insists the money will be spent on practical things rather than flashy treats – including a new front door and a new driveway. Gail said: “The door exploded the other day and it’s broken, so that’s what we’ll get on with.”

“Probably around June, we’ll get a new drive done. We might have a trip away. Nothing fancy – just getting away as a family.”

Although the couple already own a campervan, Gail revealed they may look at upgrading or adding another one so it can be shared by the family. She said: “We might look for a campervan so the kids can share it between them. That would be really nice.”

Gail and Jason are well known locally for volunteering and charity work, from fire service causes – where the pair met more than 16 years ago while training young firefighters – to rugby club fundraising and Meals on Wheels.

Jason added: “I know she’s my wife, but Gail deserves everything. She does so much for everyone else.”