One hundred and twenty six neonatal ICU nurses from Mercy Children’s Hospital in Missouri, USA, grouped together to play the lottery but none of them expected to win anything.

When the results were announced, the 126 nurses discovered they had actually won — not the $1.6 billion jackpot, but $10,000.

“We never thought in a million years we would win anything at all and then we came one number away from winning $1.6 billion…” NICU nurse Stephanie Brinkman told KMOV News.

Now at this point, the nurses faced the decision of what to do with the $10,000. If they split the winnings equally between them, each nurse would end up with approximately $50 after taxes.

They realized that one lump sum of $10,000 was much more valuable to someone than $50, the nurses decided to do something different.

What if they gave the winnings to the ones that needed it most?

And that’s what they agreed to do.

They decided to split the $7,000 ($10,000 after taxes) that they had between two nurses that needed it the most.

One was neonatologist Casey Orellana.

Casey’s husband Phil was diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year and sadly, the prognosis wasn’t positive. Phil had not been able to work for months and was receiving various treatments for wound care. Meanwhile the family had discovered that the cancer had spread to his lungs.

Thanks to the nurses’ generous contribution, the Orellana family could now rest easy: the money will help pay for the medical bills.

Gretchen Post was the next nurse to receive the money.

She had experienced the worst nightmare for a parent, the death of their child. At only 17 years old, her son Jack, sadly took his own life.

“My son on October 23, died by suicide,” Gretchen said. “Jack always had a smile on his face. He did not lead anyone on that this would happen.”

Gretchen will be using the money to help pay for her son’s funeral, something she desperately needed the money for.

Share if you agree these nurses did the right thing.