£61m EuroMillions win: Mum said 'buy ticket' after cancer op

A mother whose family won the EuroMillions £61m jackpot rang her daughter from the US and asked her to buy a ticket as she felt lucky after having life-saving cancer surgery.

The group, from Monmouth, matched all seven numbers to scoop £61,102,443 in Friday's draw.

Sonia Davies, 53, her partner Keith Reynolds, 55, daughters Courtney, 19, and Stephanie, 23, are celebrating with Stephanie's partner Steve Powell, 30.

She said it was a "rollercoaster week".

The family was unveiled at Newport's Celtic Manor Resort on Wednesday and said they were "living the dream".

The winning numbers were 01, 21, 26, 40 and 50 and Lucky Star numbers were 02 and 04.

Ms Davies and her partner already had a holiday to Florida booked when they discovered a leading treatment centre in the US state.

Doctors told Ms Davies the tumour on her parathyroid gland in her neck could have killed her within three years.

After getting the all-clear after the surgery, Ms Davies phoned her daughter Stephanie and had to "bully" her into buying a ticket.

Ms Davies daughter Stephanie phoned her "sobbing down the phone" when she called to tell her about their win

"What a rollercoaster of a week we've had," Ms Davies said.

"They managed to give me the all-clear straight after the operation, so as you would imagine we were on cloud nine.

"[Keith] was convinced that we were the luckiest people on the planet and definitely on a winning streak after the success of my op.

"Something told us we needed to get a ticket - and the rest is history."

She said daughter Stephanie phoned her "sobbing down the phone" with the "odd muffled word".

"I thought she'd told me she'd lost her dog. Then I heard Steve shouting 'we've won £61m'."

After checking the numbers in the early hours of Sunday morning, Stephanie Davies said she could not sleep so she and Mr Powell took selfies with the winning ticket in case anything happened to it.

"We checked the ticket 10 times and ran around the house and locked all the doors and windows," she said.

"In a crazy moment we took a few selfies with the ticket."

The group have agreed they will share their newfound wealth with family and friends.

Ms Davies, an admin assistant, and Mr Reynolds, a regional director, said they would buy a new car port.

Courtney Davies, who is studying for a psychology degree at the University of Southampton, said she would replace her VW Fox with a car which has automatic windows.

Stephanie Davies, a sales executive, and Mr Powell plan to replace their bathroom en-suite in the home they recently bought together.

The winning ticket was one of six lucky dips bought at Overmonnow Garage in Monmouth - 30 minutes before last Friday's cut off time.

It is the fourth EuroMillions jackpot won in the UK this year but falls about £100m short of the largest win by Colin and Chris Weir from North Ayrshire.

The couple won the £161,653,000 EuroMillions jackpot in July 2011.