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Lancashire mum to raffle off £600,000 home and Ferrari after incurable heart disease diagnosis

And tickets are only £2 to be in with a shot at winning.

Emily Sergeant - 18th January 2021

A woman is raffling off her house and car after being diagnosed with an incurable heart disease and is currently recovering from a bout of coronavirus (COVID-19).

Mum-of-two Jennifer Matthews and her husband David decided to raffle off their five-bed detached house – named Bramble Lodge, near Adlington in Lancashire – after the 48-year-old, who runs an electrical engineering company, was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia in 2016 and, after collapsing twice in 2018 and 2019, has not been able to work as much.

Jennifer’s condition devastatingly cannot be treated, which means she has a fast and abnormal heart rate.

And although Jennifer said she feels “lucky to be alive” – having had heart surgery in mid-2019 in an unsuccessful attempt to try to boost her electrolytes to a normal level – the couple have been forced to make the difficult decision to sell their home and downscale.

The Matthews’ are selling their £600,000 home after building their house from the ground up eight years ago.

The stunning luxury home has five double bedrooms, a massive garden, a £7,000 Aga cooker, and on top of that, also comes with a 2004 Ferrari 360 Spider – which is “thrilling” to drive, according to the couple.

And you could be in with a chance of winning it for just £2.

Jennifer said she was saddened to sell her “dream house”, but felt this was an opportunity for another family to get the deal of a lifetime for just £2.

She told LancsLive: “I’ve got a fatal heart condition which can’t be treated [and] it’s nearly taken my life a few times. We’re going through the process of selling the house because of it. I come from nothing and I thought I’d love someone to have a house like this and have a Ferrari.

“Ryan Giggs used to live across the street, it’s a lovely area [and] someone could get a dream house for just £2.”

She continued: “I think it’s a dream house because everyone has always told us that if they’d won the lottery, they’d buy my house, and it’s marvellous and thrilling driving a Ferrari – it’s not every day you get to ride in one.”

The Matthews’ had previously tried to sell the home the “conventional way”, but the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic initially made it a struggle, and then when the first national lockdown ended, they were bombarded with viewings and Jennifer said she struggled to deal with them as she was exhausted and worried about her health.

After spotting a different house which had just been sold on the raffle website Raffall.com, she decided to try her luck there.

Jennifer continued: “We bought the land in 2012 and moved in August 2012, built it all in seven months,

“We worked so hard [and] poured our heart and soul into the house.

“When the restrictions ended we were inundated with viewings and a few offers, but it made matters worse because I couldn’t manage all the viewings, running my business, with my children, my dogs, five six viewings a day – I was shattered.

“I saw this other house come up for a raffle and wondered if it was real.”

After finding out that it very much was real – and having seen the modern method of raffling becoming increasingly popular to sell property during difficult times – the Matthews’ jumped at the opportunity to list their home on the site and see what happens.

“I come from nothing and I thought I’d love someone to have a house like this and have a Ferrari.” said Jennifer.

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Tickets to enter the raffle cost just £2, with the closing date being Sunday 14th February 2021 at 11:45pm (or when the last ticket is sold, whichever sooner).

You can grab yours from the Raffall website here.