Attleboro Man Wins $1 Million On Scratch Ticket Gifted To Him After Having Heart Surgery

ATTLEBORO (CBS) -- You will be hard-pressed to find a more "heartwarming" lottery story than what recently happened to an Attleboro man.

Alexander McLeish, who had open-heart surgery in early November, won a $1 million prize from the Massachusetts State Lottery's "$5,000,000 100X Cashword" instant ticket game after a friend sent him a get-well card with three lottery tickets inside.

After scratching the "Your Letters" part of one of the tickets, the first three letters were McLeish's initials, which are "AWM". The word that appeared on the bottom row of the winning ticket was "HEART."

McLeish claimed the prize on Friday. He chose the cash option, which will pay him $650,000 before taxes.

McLeish told the Massachusetts State Lottery that he previously won a $1,000 prize on a lottery ticket that was given to him by the same friend as a birthday gift.

The winning ticket for McLeish was purchased at a store in Carver.