NJ woman wins $1,000 a day for life

TRENTON, N.J. (WPVI) -- What would you do with $1,000 a day for life?

That is now the fortunate problem for a mother of two from Trenton.

"I was having palpitations, but didn't know what they were, even though I'm a nurse," said Dawn Jones, Cash4Life Lottery winner.

Dawn Jones of Trenton, a mother of two, won the New Jersey Lottery Cash4Life jackpot on Aug. 8 - meaning she's taking home $1,000 a day for life. That would make anyone's heart race, so she called a friend after realizing she had the winning ticket.

"He said, 'just breathe.' I said, 'no, I feel like it's my heart jumping out of my chest.'

"I said, 'well you know we always joke about it, I think I'm going to call in rich because there's too much going on,' " said Jones.

In fact, Jones hasn't called 'in rich.' Even though she's a multimillionaire, she continues working two jobs - one at an acute care center in North Jersey and another at Ancora Psychiatric Hospital in Hammonton.

"With the nurse thing, it's just depending on us to show up for work. It's a hardship if we call out," said Jones.

Her new fortune is allowing Jones to pay off her student loans, her car and to relocate. She shared a funny exchange she had recently with one of her daughters, who was filling out a college application, asking for her family's financial background.

"She said, 'How much is the statement available in your bank?' I said, 'Uh, about $4 million.' They're going to look at that application and like 'Ma'am why you filling this application out?' I'm trying to tell her, but she says it's still a process. I don't know, but I'm telling you now they're not gonna give you no money," said Jones.

When Jones eventually quits both of her jobs, she says she'd like to travel. And now, luckily, she has the means to do it.

She took a cash payout of $7 million. She's currently working with financial advisers and still trying to accept her good fortune.

"It just didn't seem real. You would say surreal. It's still a process," said Jones.

One she's slowly getting used to.