A lottery winner who won £5.4m after her dead brother told her in a dream she’d win the jackpot has returned to the shop to meet the lady who sold her the ticket over two decades ago.
Deana Sampson, 56, who has enjoyed lavish holidays and owns multiple properties since her big win, says her late brother is the reason she hit the jackpot and believes she will win again.
Deana returned to the store where she won her fortune and was reunited with postmistress Balwinder Dhillion, 59, who served her the winning ticket.
The mother of two’s life has changed dramatically since her incredible win but she says she has always remained grounded.
She was able to spoil her parents Ivory and Lou, who had always struggled to make ends meet, and help to give them a stress-free life until they passed away.
Deana, who owns a property business with son Ryan, 32, said: “I still have my feet on the ground, just with better shoes.
“I love that I was able to allow my parents to enjoy the better things in life before they passed away.
“I bought them their bungalow which was amazing and we went on amazing holidays and I can now look after my children and grandchildren.”
Since Deana’s big win she has splurged on holiday homes in Florida and the Dominican Republic but said she is careful not to go overboard.
She does, however, have an incredible feeling she will win again on the lottery next year.
She said: “I treat myself and my family of course I do, but we are not spoiled.
“I am careful with my money and what I invest in.
“Call me superstitious but I do think I will win again and soon.
“In the next year when everything is settled, I genuinely believe I will win again.”
After Deana’s visit to the Strandbrook post office in Sheffield, South Yorks., Balwinder – who started working at the post office at age 16 – revealed amazingly Deana was not the only lottery winner the lucky store had produced.
A past coworker at the store, Lynn Hewitt won a huge quarter of a million pounds five years ago.
Balwinder, who still works full time at the store 43 years after she started, said: “It’s amazing to see Deana again, we were all so happy for her when she won.
“She was always one of my favorite customers, I remember her coming in to pick up her benefits and milk tokens with her children and she’d always by a lottery ticket.
“A shop assistant won the lottery as well with the ticket I served her so it’s a lucky shop and I must be a good luck charm too.
“I might have to buy one for myself.”
Deana was ready to give up on life before her lucky break, after losing three family members in nine years, including her disabled brother Glyn just four months earlier.
Struggling Deana religiously bought a ticket every week when she called at her local post office to pick up her benefits.
On the week leading up to her win, Deana had gone into store on Monday to put on her usual birthday date numbers.
However, just two days later she had her unbelievable dream which saw her late disabled brother handing her numbers out of a jar telling her she would win the lottery.
Deana said: “It was a surreal dream.
“My brother couldn’t get out to the shop so he used to keep all the gifts he received next to his bed.
“He had this empty toffee tin which we put random numbers in to select what numbers we were going to put on the lottery that week.
“In the dream, he passed me the numbers telling me I was going to win and as soon as I woke up I scribbled them down on the back of a bank statement.
“I just had a feeling I was going to win.”
Deana sat in her brother’s old chair at her parents’ home that Saturday night when her numbers came up on the TV.
Ironically the numbers she won £5,439,681 with was the numbers she had put on before her dream but she knows it was because of Glyn looking down on her.
She said: “It’s funny because I was that focused on the second ticket that I’d dreamt about I’d left my original ticket in my dad’s car.
“I still won a tenner on the second ticket so I did technically win twice.
“I couldn’t believe it when I checked the other ticket and realised I’d won the jackpot.
“My brother was definitely smiling down and made it happen so that me and my family could have a better life.
“I just hope he’s proud with what we have all achieved.”
