Media-ready jpeg image of Denise Brashley

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DATE: March 17, 2008
CONTACT: Sally Lunsford (785) 296-5708, sally.lunsford@kslottery.net

Shawnee Resident’s Irish Luck Wins Her $5,000

TOPEKA, KAN. – A Shawnee, Kan., woman had the luck of the Irish today and, why not? Denise Brashley says her grandmother on her mother’s side was full-blooded Irish. Her grandmother’s parents immigrated to the United States during the Irish potato famine.

Brashley was happy enough to do a little Irish jig when came to Lottery headquarters today, St. Patrick’s Day. She was claiming a $5,000 top prize she won by revealing six words on a $1 Quick Crossword instant ticket. The ticket was one of four Quick Crosswords that Brashley and her husband Terry purchased. She scratched two, and he scratched two. He only won $1.

“I’m usually very unlucky,” she said. “It’s Terry who always wins, not me.”

Brashley said she has needed some good luck. After a bout with the flu recently, she then developed back problems, and just last week she was attending a funeral for a friend who died.

“After all that, now I feel like my luck has changed,” Brashley said.

Brashley and her husband say they only occasionally purchase instant scratch tickets. When they do, she says they always buy four of the same ticket, two for each of them.

Denise and Terry Brashley have been married 31 years. Denise works in early childhood special education in Kansas City, Kan. The Brashleys say they will probably use their prize money for traveling.

They purchased their lucky winning ticket at Price Chopper 249, located at 22204 W. 66th St. in Shawnee.