Jo-Ann Nicolle and her family have been trying to find ways to cope with heartbreak after suffering an unimaginable loss two years ago — the sudden death of her teenage son, Carson.
On Nov. 30, a small spark of hope emerged from the darkness, when the Barrie family got the news they’d won a lottery jackpot of $266,908 through the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre’s (RVH) November 50/50 draw.
“I had just gotten out of the shower and the phone was ringing,” she said. “It went to voicemail before I could jump out. The phone said RVH, and I figured it was for an MRI because I had one scheduled.”
A representative from RVH called Nicolle back and asked her if she knew why she was calling her.
“It’s RVH, and why else would I be calling you?” the voice on the line said.
Nicolle clued in and said she started screaming.
“I started to cry, and actually, after the initial couple of seconds of screaming, I said ‘can I give it back? Can I give it back if it means I can have my son back?’ And she started to cry, and I’m crying. It just kind of took that tone then.”
Once they hung up, Nicolle immediately called her husband.
He was out buying auto parts as the muffler just fell off their car, and when he bought winter tires and tried to put them on, the jack went through the vehicle's floor.
“The car was just falling apart,” she said.
“Just put them down and come home,” Nicolle recalled telling her husband.
She told him there’s nothing wrong. “I just need you to come home right now.”
Nicolle’s husband arrived home, walked in the door and asked her what was wrong.
“He was just white. Having lost our son, everything, I guess, instantly goes there. And I said the boys are safe.”
Nicolle told him they won the RVH lottery. “He goes ‘no seriously, what’s going on?’ He thought I was lying.”
He still didn’t believe her. “I did that Elaine-thing from Seinfeld. I shoved him and he went down on the sofa, as I said ‘get out! We won!’”
After taking a call from RVH again, he was finally convinced.
“There was a lot of crying after that,” added Nicolle.
The couple have had three boys, who were all premature births.
“Our oldest was almost three months premature. He had a brain-bleed ten hours after he was born, and he spent almost two months in a neonatal unit (in hospital),” she said.
Their twins were born two months premature, and spent a month in a neonatal unit.
“Being preemies, they were always susceptible to getting sick,” Nicolle said. “We spent a lot of time at RVH.”
Just over two years ago, their youngest twin, Carson, passed away suddenly.
“He walked into our place of work and just said ‘Mommy, I have a headache,’ and within 15 to 20 minutes he was gone in my arms, and his older brother’s arms,” she said, her voice breaking.
As a result of the tragedy, the family closed their business, a small take-out restaurant, across the street from the boys’ high school.
“I just couldn’t work there anymore. The boys couldn’t work there anymore,” Nicolle said.
Their father took time off work and then retired that year as soon as he could after working as a police officer for 30 years.
“It’s been extremely, extremely rough,” she added.
“We were drowning emotionally and physically, and drowning in debt incurred during COVID-19 with the restaurant.”
The family originally tried to keep the business open.
“People started a GoFundMe as soon as Carson passed away, and it helped us stay open for a while,” Nicolle said, “but then after trying to recoup costs — we were just sinking further and further — we finally said no, we can’t do this anymore.
“The boys couldn’t come into the shop anymore, and more often than not, I would be crying when people came in. It was just too hard.”
After realizing they won the RVH lottery, they immediately cleared their debt with the winnings.
“We got a chance to breathe for a second,” said Nicolle. “And my husband was able to get a newer car.”
She said they were also able to put some of the money away for the boys.
The family also paid it forward by generously helping a few local charities as well.
“It just felt so great to be able to do it,” said Nicolle. “We’d been so down for so long. It just gave us a breath.”
The heaviness of losing their son persists, regardless of lottery winnings.
“People think, because of winning the money, that the pain all of a sudden goes away, and it doesn’t. We are still heavily mourning,” she adds.
“People say, it’s been over two years now, you should be getting over this,” said Nicolle. “It’s not like that when you lose a child. Even though he was 17, you lose all of the memories you were supposed to create.”
The lottery win is, however, a silver lining which could not have come at a better time for the family.
With debt paid, and small investments made for the boys for when they get older, Nicolle’s husband joked to her, “you’ve put everything away. We still have stuff to buy for Christmas! It’s going to go back on the credit card.’’
Their win has brought a small sense of joy in a time of sorrow, she acknowledged.
“It’s been the biggest sparkle of light we have had in two-and-a-half years,” said Nicolle.
