Garina Fearon is a single mother living in Brooklyn, New York. She works as a prison guard, a job that isn’t much fun when inmates get unruly and decide to assault the guards. Despite these hardships, a lucky mistake last month changed Fearon’s life forever.

Fearson is not a gambler. She said she buys lottery tickets maybe twice a year. Last month she went to her local deli to buy a Powerball ticket, but wound up buying a Mega Millions ticket by mistake. She put the ticket in her pocket, went home, and didn’t even pay attention when the winning numbers were announced that evening.

Two days later, Fearson was at work when she looked up the winning numbers in a newspaper. She soon realized that by buying the wrong ticket, she had won 54 million dollars.

For now, Fearson has stepped away from her job as a guard at Rikers Island while she figures out what to do with her new-found fortune. One thing is certain – she will be sending plenty of money back to her mother in Jamaica.

Lottery winners are often faced with a choice – take a big cut in their prize and collect the remainder right away, or get the whole amount in small payments for years and years. Fearson went for the lump sum option, taking home a fat $33 million.

Garina Fearon is a single mother living in Brooklyn, New York. She works as a prison guard, a job that isn’t much fun when inmates get unruly and decide to assault the guards. Despite these hardships, a lucky mistake last month changed Fearon’s life forever.

Fearson is not a gambler. She said she buys lottery tickets maybe twice a year. Last month she went to her local deli to buy a Powerball ticket, but wound up buying a Mega Millions ticket by mistake. She put the ticket in her pocket, went home, and didn’t even pay attention when the winning numbers were announced that evening.

Two days later, Fearson was at work when she looked up the winning numbers in a newspaper. She soon realized that by buying the wrong ticket, she had won 54 million dollars.

For now, Fearson has stepped away from her job as a guard at Rikers Island while she figures out what to do with her new-found fortune. One thing is certain – she will be sending plenty of money back to her mother in Jamaica.

Lottery winners are often faced with a choice – take a big cut in their prize and collect the remainder right away, or get the whole amount in small payments for years and years. Fearson went for the lump sum option, taking home a fat $33 million.