Former Thumb woman using lottery winnings to pursue medical dream

Saturday, November 11, 2006 posted 05:54 AM EST

When Sara M. Richmond said she'd use a winning $250,000 instant lottery ticket to help her get through medical school, she meant it.

Four years after the former Fairgrove resident won the money in the ''Big Fat Wallet'' instant game, she's well on her way to realizing her dream of becoming a doctor.

Richmond, now 36, plans to graduate from medical school in June 2008.

''Without the money, I really don't know how this would have worked out,'' said Richmond, a student for the past three years at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in the seaside town of Biddeford, Maine.

''It would have been do-able, but it would have been difficult,'' Richmond said.

But Richmond - then an emergency medical technician for the Vassar Area Ambulance Service - won the $250,000 on Nov. 8, 2002, while on duty with co-worker Douglas G. Fader.

Richmond already had been accepted to medical school when she bought the lucky ticket at McGee's Convenience Store in Fairgrove. So she and her husband, Greg, used the cash - more than $170,000 after paying taxes - to pay off debts on two cars and to buy a home in the hills of Maine.

''We just wanted to have the money invested so if something came up, we'd have something for our money,'' Sara Richmond said.

The home on five acres of forest near West Newfield, Maine, offers views of moose, bears, foxes and turkeys, among other wildlife.

''Sara was planning ahead even before she won that money,'' said Fader, 60, of Colling, Richmond's former co-worker with the ambulance service.

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