VIDEO: Man wins $1M scratch-off ticket, dies of cancer weeks later

NEW YORK (CNN) — The new year looked bright for one New York man who won a million dollars on a scratch-off lottery ticket.

He used a portion of that money to seek the medical care he couldn’t afford before, but his luck went from spectacular to tragic in an instant.

At the start of this month, Donald Savastano won a million dollars on the New York Lottery’s Merry Millionaire ticket.

“This is gonna change our lives, to tell you the truth,” Savastano had said.

Danielle Scott, the cashier where he bought the ticket, recalls the day it happened.

“He scanned it on the machine here, and then he came over, said that he had won a million dollars and had me look at it. Yeah, he was excited,” she said.

With the chunk of money he won, Savastano had some plans in mind.

“I’m probably going to go get a new truck and I don’t know probably go on vacation,” he said.

Those plans also included a trip to the doctor.

“He was self employed. He didn’t have insurance, he hadn’t been feeling good for a while I guess, and when he got the money he went into the doctor,” Scott said.

When he was able to go to the doctor, he found out he had stage four cancer.

“He had a friend come and talk to me, and they told me that he was very sick and that he had brain and lung cancer and that he was in the hospital and they didn’t think he was gonna make it,” Scott said.

On Friday Savastano passed away, just 23 days after winning the lottery.

“I was hoping that the money was maybe gonna save his life,” Scott said.

Donald Savastano was a self-employed carpenter and planned to use most of the money to fund his retirement.

A viewing is scheduled for Tuesday night with a funeral to follow Wednesday.