Man gets $7M lottery ticket in get-well card

NEW CITY, N.Y. (AP) – A Pennsylvania man recovering from surgery has won $7 million off a lottery ticket tucked into his get-well card.

Joseph Amorese, of Easton, got the ticket from his father, who lives in the hamlet of Congers in Rockland County, New York.

Amorese had just undergone hernia surgery. A few scratches later on the “$7 million Golden Ticket,” and he was feeling great.

“I scratched the ticket and it was a good thing I was already sitting down because I was shocked. I was – and still am – in complete disbelief,” Amorese said.

“I had surgery so I didn’t jump up and down, but in my mind I was jumping up and down,” the beaming winner recalled Wednesday.

He sent a photo of the ticket to his dad, who agreed that it was a winner.

The 46-year-old Verizon employee then called his wife, Jodi, a social worker.

“I said, ‘Honey, I think we won $7 million.’ And there was silence on the other end for a long time. She was too stunned to talk,” Amorese said.

Lottery officials presented Amorese with a ceremonial check at the dollar store in New City, New York, where the ticket was purchased.

The new multimillionaire and his wife plan to keep their jobs.