North Carolina Man Surprised With 'Life Changing' $1 Million Lottery Prize

A man in North Carolina couldn't believe his luck when he scored a "life-changing" $1 million lottery prize, claiming that he nearly had a heart attack when he got the lucky call.

What started as a typical Thursday morning changed drastically when Stacy Hege, of Clemmons, received a phone call telling him he was the lucky winner of $1 million in the December 7 Colossal Cash second-chance drawing, according to a release from the NC Education Lottery.

"I almost had a heart attack," said Hege. "This is life-changing for me that's for sure."

So what do you do when you win $1 million? If you're like Hege, you likely want to tell your family all about it!

"First thing I did was tell my dad. When I told him, tears came to his eyes," he said, adding, "This just comes at the perfect time. I moved recently to help take care of my dad and this will just help us out so much."

Hege claimed his prize at lottery headquarters on Friday (December 9), where he had to choose to receive his prize as either an annuity of $50,000 a year over the course of 20 years or as a one time, lump sum payment of $600,000. In the end, he chose the latter, taking home an astounding $426,060 after all required state and federal tax withholdings. When asked what he plans to do with his new winnings, he told lottery officials he hopes to buy a house and treat his dad to a trip.

"I'm going to take my dad on a fishing trip," he said. "I think it will do him some good."