EudoraNews.com

You come home from a long day of work and see that there is a message on your answering machine. You press play, hear an unfamiliar voice and begin to realize that this not the usual message.

The voice informs you that on Nov. 9, you'll win at least $20,000 and have a chance at $200,000 from the Kansas Lottery.

That's exactly what happened to lifelong Eudora resident Terry Wisdom, who won $20,000 in the Kansas Lottery's "$200,000 Celebration" scratch-off game after he bought five $20 scratch-off tickets with his wife, Roma.

"It freaked me out," Wisdom, 51, said of the call.

Of 63,000 people who sent in their tickets for the second-chance drawing, Wisdom and 19 others were randomly selected to win.

Wisdom, an equipment operator in the stormwater department for the city of Lawrence, said he will use the money to pay for medical bills.

"I got in a motorcycle accident in November of 2005 and had quite a few medical bills," he said. "This sure will help take the strain off of that."

The winnings, which amounted to $14,000 after taxes, were in Wisdom's mailbox Friday, making for not only a better payday than usual, but also an early Christmas gift.