A group of nurses working at a Missouri NICU bought and won a winning Mega Millions ticket earlier this year. And, instead of splitting or keeping the money for themselves, the benevolent nurses gave it away to two of their team members in need.

The Mega Millions pot, which hadn’t been won for one of the longest periods in history, had grown to a staggering $1.6 billion which, as many of you undoubtedly know, is more than enough to last a few lifetimes. However, in a surprising turn of events, the winners decided to donate the prize money to two of their peers: one of which had recently lost her son, and the other whose husband had recently been diagnosed with cancer.

The concept of having a lottery pot so high had sparked a frenzy in the United States, as people left and right went out of their way to get their tickets for a chance at that miraculous “what if?” Even in the workplace, people would create “office pools” to participate in the lottery and agree to split if between everyone should they win. However, the lucky ones this time around were a group of 126 nurses that had all contributed to the office pool at Mercy Children’s Hospital in Missouri. The lucky nurses had bought one of the five winning tickets that awarded them with $10,000 in cash. Furthermore, their winning ticket was an excruciating one number away from scoring the entire jackpot!

In an interview featured on KMOV4’s website, Stephanie Brinkman, the organizer of the lottery pool at the hospital commented, “We never thought in a million years we would win anything at all and then we came one number away from winning $1.6 billion.” However, instead of splitting the earnings between all 126 participating nurses (which would leave them with around $56 each), they decided to help out their colleagues in need and split the prize between the two. After taxes, there were $7,200 left, so each nurse got $3,600 to help in their time of need. “The majority said, ‘let’s give it to our co-workers, our family, the ones that are in biggest need’ so that’s what we decided to do,” Brinkman said.

While it definitely would’ve been better if the nurses had won the entire $1.6 billion, their humble earnings helped their coworkers, Gretchen Post and Casey Orellana, tremendously. Orellana’s husband had just been diagnosed with sarcoma, which had already metastasized to his lungs. Since the couple also had two children that needed care, Orellana had to cut her hours in half to look after her family, which put them under significant financial strain. Meanwhile, Post had lost her youngest son, Jack, to suicide just a few months ago in October. Her Mega Millions gift would go towards funding Jack’s funeral.

For Phil Orellana, this gift was a blessing as he expressed his gratitude towards the nurses whose gift would allow him to afford his treatment, which was escalating in costs. The fact that he had such thoughtful men and women looking after him and his family gave him the strength to keep fighting the good fight and beat his disease. “Certainly knowing that I’m not the only one fighting this battle, that there are people there to support me, certainly makes it easier for me,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gretchen Post elaborated on how Jack was the youngest of her three children, who was always positive and didn’t ever alert anyone to his plans to take his own life. Furthermore, the grieving mother stated that Jack died the night of the Mega Millions drawing and that the money would now go towards affording him a proper burial. “Jack always had a smile on his face. He did not lead anyone on that this would happen,” Post said. “He died the night of the Mega Millions drawing. Now money from that drawing is going to his family; It’s actually going to pay for Jack’s funeral which I’m very grateful for.”

An article on nurse.org stated that, regardless of the circumstances, the nurses of the NICUs around the world are always there in the moments where families grow bigger. However, in these moments where the spirit of solidarity is fostered, the nurses of the Missouri NICU family become a lot closer.