A LOTTERY winner described her £2.5 million win as “the silver lining” after switching cancer treatment for the luxury kind.

On the 25th anniversary of the National Lottery Benfleet’s big winner Tracy Field has spoken about how her life changed when her numbers came up.

The mum-of-two went from battling breast cancer in 2007 to lottery winner in 2008.

She told the Echo: “It was such a relief after being ill which had such an effect on my life.

“My youngest son, who is now 27, really struggled with wondering if his mum was going to survive or not.

“Every cloud has a silver lining and I believe that was mine. That was my happy ending.

“Not having to worry about money is a great feeling but most of all, I know that if I’m ever ill again, I won’t need to wait for any treatment. I can just pay for it, as I don’t want to be in that position again.”

Tracy, 51, has enjoyed jetting off to various destinations with her partner Brian Bishop, 55. She bought a new car and a bigger home as soon as she received the winnings and took her mum and friends on a “girly holiday” to Pathos in Cyprus staying in a luxury hotel.

Tracy said since winning 11 years ago she’s caught the “travel bug” and has also helped out her sons, Ryan, 27, and Ross, 31.

Reliving the day of her win, Tracy added: “I was checking my numbers online one evening and I thought it was only the five numbers that came in but then realised it was actually six.

“I had to do a double-take, I checked the numbers again - triple-checked and quadruple-checked. It was such a shock. I went to bed as there was no answer when I called the number on the back.

“I didn’t get much sleep that night, I thought I was dreaming and kept thinking ‘is this actually real’.

“The next day after I called the number again and I was picked up and taken to the head office to officially confirm the numbers on my ticket.

“I quit my job at Kleeneze Catalogues straight away.

“It took a couple of years for it to actually sink in. Even now I still tell myself ‘can you really afford that?’. The fact I don’t have to worry about finances anymore is the biggest thing and I can offer help to my family if they need it. You can’t put a price on that if you can help someone.”