Sian ElvinTuesday 26 Jan 2021 3:54 pm
A mum with an incurable heart condition is looking to raffle off her £600,000 home for medical reasons – and it could end up costing a lucky buyer just £2.
Jennifer Matthews and her husband David, both 48, decided to raffle off their five-bedroom bespoke house after she was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia, a rhythm disorder which causes a fast and abnormal heart rate.
And they thought they’d throw in their 2004 Ferrari 360 Spider, too.
The mum-of-two told Metro.co.uk: ‘About three years ago I was in the south of France on holiday when I just collapsed. ‘Because I didn’t understand the language I didn’t know what had happened to me – but I did know they had stopped and restarted my heart.’
Upon returning home, she admitted she ‘shouldn’t have done’ but attempted to continue life as normal – but 18 months later disaster struck.
‘I actually died for three minutes that day,’ Jennifer added, ‘And my heart had reached 230 [beats per minute] – it shouldn’t be more than 170 at a maximum.’
Her condition can be controlled with medication but there is a chance she could go into sudden cardiac arrest at any moment and it could kill her.
‘They tried to operate on my heart but it failed,’ she said, ‘And that means my condition is incurable. It could kill me, yes, but it’s not like it’s terminal.
‘I always try to turn every negative into a positive.’
Jennifer also recently caught coronavirus, which she said ‘hit her hard’ as the medication she is on causes her to be weak.
As a result, Jennifer and her husband have decided to sell their home and downsize so they have a more manageable property to clean and run.
We put the property on the market in March,’ Jennifer explained, ‘But of course then we were hit by the lockdown.
‘Once things started opening up people would just come over and treat it like a day out – they weren’t interested in actually buying it.’
After some research she and David decided to raffle off the home to stop time-wasters, and lots of people coming round and potentially spreading Covid-19.
The couple want to sell a minimum of 350,000 tickets for £2 each – and if they do, they said they will donate some defibrillators to the British Heart Foundation in recognition of Jennifer’s condition.
The couple built their home, called Bramble Lodge, from scratch eight years ago.
It is located between Bolton and Chorley in Greater Manchester, in an area once home to footballer Ryan Giggs with good primary schools and train links to Manchester.
The house has large gardens and the drive will accommodate four cars. Inside it has three reception rooms and a huge kitchen area, including a breakfast bar and an Aga.
Up the spiral staircase sees five double-sized bedrooms, one with an en-suite and another with a stunning feature window.
The raffle will end on February 14 – or before that if the last ticket sells before that date – and the winner will be chosen at random.
The competition can be entered on the Raffall website here. When asked if she’d miss the bespoke home, Jennifer replied: ‘It’s just bricks and mortar to me. I don’t put that kind of value on materials. ‘I’m not sure the kids agree though!’
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