Support truly
independent journalism
A midwife who won the lottery is still delivering babies more than a decade after becoming a millionaire.
Ruth Breen, 45, was on her lunch break in work at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, Wigan, when she checked her emails and discovered she had won £1 million on the EuroMillions.
Some 10 years later, the mother-of-one is still working for the NHS, although she has enjoyed splashing out on holidays to destinations such as Dubai, St Lucia and Mauritius.
“An awful lot has changed in the past 10 years but then again, not so much,” she said.
“The win came at the most perfect time ever. It allowed me to reduce my working hours, giving me a much better work-life balance.
“I’m really lucky that I only work part-time. That’s enabled me to spend much more time with my daughter doing fun mum things instead of working flat out for a really really busy service.
“We’ve had great holidays, but we’ve tried to keep our feet on the ground and I think working really helps me to do that.”
Ms Breen also wanted to continue working as an example to her daughter, who was 11 when she won.
“The universe gifted me something incredible but you can’t take it for granted, not everybody’s that lucky.” she added.
The community midwife now arrives at her visits in a BMW X3, saying the need for boot space prevented her from driving a sportier model, and her first purchase following the win was a pair of Jimmy Choos.
She said: “I nearly cried when I was paying for them in Selfridges because I couldn’t believe I was actually able to purchase this and I had the money to do it. It was a little bit overwhelming.
“That collection’s a little bit bigger now, I don’t cry as much any more!”
Ms Breen still lives in the house she bought just before her win and says most of the new mothers she works with are unaware they are being looked after by a millionaire.
“I don’t introduce myself and say: ‘Oh by the way I won a million quid 10 years ago.’ The vast majority of people haven’t got a clue and that’s the way I like it,” she said.
“I’m treated just like any other midwife by patients and staff.”
To mark the 10-year anniversary of her win, Ms Breen has been supporting charity The Baby Room, which provides essentials for new families in Wigan.
She said: “We all know there’s a cost-of-living crisis that’s been going on for quite some time and babies don’t come cheap.
“Not everybody is fortunate enough to be able to just go out and spend however much on all the equipment they’re going to need to make sure the baby’s got somewhere safe to sleep at night or that they’ve got sterilising equipment to make sure the bottles and teats they’re using, if they choose to bottle feed, are safe and clean.”
Alison Wakefield, who set up the baby bank in 2022 after having her youngest child, said: “Without our support we’d have babies that were sleeping on the floor, they wouldn’t have a safe space to sleep, we’d have them sleeping in drawers, we’d have babies using nappies more than once.
“It’s an essential service that is definitely needed. Without us people would be going without and babies would be going without.”
