‘I won the lottery but it won’t stop me working as a midwife’
A midwife who won the lottery 10 years ago has revealed she is still delivering babies despite becoming a millionaire.
Ruth Breen, 45, was on her lunch break while working at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan in 2014 when she checked her emails and discovered she had won £1 million on the EuroMillions.
A decade on, the mum-of-one is still working for the NHS, although she has enjoyed splashing out on holidays to destinations including Dubai, St Lucia and Mauritius.
“An awful lot has changed in the past 10 years but then again, not so much," she says of life after the windfall.
“The win came at the most perfect time ever," she continues. "It allowed me to reduce my working hours, giving me a much better work-life balance.
“I’m really lucky that I only work part-time. That’s enabled me to spend much more time with my daughter doing fun mum things instead of working flat out for a really busy service.
"We’ve had great holidays, but we’ve tried to keep our feet on the ground and I think working really helps me to do that.”
Breen also wanted to continue working as an example to her daughter, who was 11 when she won.
“The universe gifted me something incredible but you can’t take it for granted, not everybody’s that lucky," she adds.
Breen says her first purchase following the win was a pair of Jimmy Choos.
“I nearly cried when I was paying for them in Selfridges because I couldn’t believe I was actually able to purchase this and I had the money to do it," she says of the moment.
"It was a little bit overwhelming.
“That collection’s a little bit bigger now, I don’t cry as much any more!”
The community midwife now arrives at her visits in a BMW X3, saying the need for boot space prevented her from driving a sportier model, but she still lives in the house she bought just before her win.
She also believes most of the new mothers she works with are unaware they are being looked after by a millionaire.
“I don’t introduce myself and say ‘oh by the way I won a million quid 10 years ago’," she says.
"The vast majority of people haven’t got a clue and that’s the way I like it.
"I’m treated just like any other midwife by patients and staff."
To mark the 10-year anniversary of her win, Breen has been supporting charity The Baby Room, which provides essentials for new families in Wigan.
"We all know there’s a cost-of-living crisis that’s been going on for quite some time and babies don’t come cheap," she explains.
“Not everybody is fortunate enough to be able to just go out and spend however much on all the equipment they’re going to need," she says.
Alison Wakefield, who set up the baby bank in 2022 after having her youngest child, adds: “Without our support we’d have babies who wouldn’t have a safe space to sleep, that would be sleeping on the floor or in drawers, and we’d have babies using nappies more than once.
"It’s an essential service that is definitely needed," she continues. "Without us people would be going without and babies would be going without.”
Additional reporting PA.
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