Thunder Bay hospital foundation's 50/50 draw breaks records, surpasses $6.4 million

A couple from the Greater Sudbury community of Hanmer is now $6.4 million richer, after winning the 2024 Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation's 50/50 draw. 

Natalie Bigras and her husband Clem received the life-changing phone call on Jan. 3, telling them their ticket was drawn for the grand prize and they were taking home a total of $6,436,355.

"Stop it, oh my God, I'm shaking like a leaf," Natalie said through tears over the phone after receiving the news from Glenn Craig, president and CEO of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation.

The couple was in disbelief that they had won, saying, "This is absolutely going to change everything."

When asked what inspired them to buy tickets, Natalie and Clem said it's because the money goes back to the hospital to help enhance local health care. Natalie drew on her own family's experience.

"In July, I lost my dad and took care of him at home," she said. "I've been off work since May to be with him his last three months of his life, and I had hospice care at home."

"I'm so grateful, so overwhelmed. My heart is full today."

Sharing in the emotional phone call was Craig, who said he was excited to break the news and change someone's life.

"Being able to tell someone they've just won over $6 million is an indescribable experience," he said.

"Hearing the raw emotion on the other end of the line is something I'll carry with me forever. It's a privilege to be part of such a life-changing moment for someone."

The hospital foundation started its annual fundraiser in 2021 as a way to raise much-needed money for new hospital equipment and programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, more than $50 million in prizes have been given away to winners, with each year's grand prize draw raising more money than the previous year.

"It's huge," said Craig.

"These days with the dollars being tighter and with us being more effective in our fundraising, we're playing a larger and larger part in making sure, whether it's new diagnostic equipment, new equipment for cancer programs, cardiac, it really is providing that assurance that the professionals that we have in our hospital have the tools they need."

The 2024 campaign, which started on Nov. 29, surpassed expectations, blowing by its $2.5 million grand prize guarantee in less than a week and growing to the record-breaking $6,436,355 amount just before the midnight deadline, becoming the largest hospital 50/50 draw anywhere in Canada.

Craig said the $6 million draw is also the largest 50/50 in Ontario's history, surpassing the previous record held by the Toronto Blue Jays.

It also now holds the record as the second-largest 50/50 in all of Canada, behind the Edmonton Oilers' $10.8 million draw in last year's Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.