For Ray, there’s no better cause. For Ray, there’s no better cause.

Heart disease and stroke have had a huge effect on Ray’s life:

“I have two grandfathers I never met – one had a stroke in his 50s and the other a heart attack at 32. My grandmother passed at 60. In those days, there wasn’t much you could do… Heart & Stroke is changing that.”

Were his employees pranking him?

As a busy store manager, he answered his winning call, becoming quickly skeptical: “The caller was almost too professional – I thought it was a scam or that I’d been “punked” by one of my employees.

I let her lead the conversation, and when she said it would be posted on the website the next day, it finally hit – I said a huge THANK YOU…closed my office door and sat in shock.”

Planning the trip of their dreams.

After a sleepless night of letting their big win sink in, Ray and his wife shared the news with their adult children in a video call: “They were beyond excited.”

Ray and his wife are planning a dream trip to New Zealand and Australia, after which Ray will be putting retirement plans into place. 

We are all affected by heart disease and stroke.

He’ll keep buying tickets in the hope that “lightning might strike twice,” but mostly because: “Your family is going to be affected by heart disease and stroke at some point in your life, and research happening now is helping us live longer… what could be a better cause?”