Grand Prize Home winners Jerry and Dawn Krolikowski in their kitchen at the Princess Margaret Home Lottery Grand Prize Home, Wednesday, December 9th, 2009. (Sun Media/Dave Abel)

OAKVILLE -- Dawn Krolikowski thought the caller was joking yesterday.

After all, winning the grand prize in the Princess Margaret Welcome Home Sweepstake -- a $3.5-million home -- was probably more than she ever expected.

But she has little doubt that it was her grandmother, who died in January of cancer, that probably pulled a string or two in making sure Krolikowski's numbers won the home in posh eastern Oakville.

As Krolikowski and her husband, Jerry, savoured the win as cameras swirled around them, she recalled that it was her grandmother, Margaret Goring, 88, who was treated for cancer at Princess Margaret Hospital.

"We buy one (lottery ticket)every year but this year we bought three," she said. "Lo and behold, I think it was the third ticket that won.

It will be two years next month that Todd Laing lost his mother Beverley, 65, to cancer. His wife Lesley also lost family members to cancer.

So it was pre-ordained that the family would win a spectacular Muskoka cottage worth $1.1 million.

"It's a big motivation for us," Lesley said. "If you win, it's nice, but you know it's going to a good cause. We buy (tickets) every year," she said.

Just hearing the telephone message that they won the cottage caused pandemonium in Laing household yesterday morning.

Their two boys, Blair, 14, and Ryan, 13, were yanked out of school and their daughter Jacqui, 23, thought something terrible happened when she noticed so many missed calls on her cellphone from home.

Todd Laing said he buys $1,000 worth of tickets every year. "I don't smoke; I don't play the lottery; I don't gamble," he added. "I put (money) in this once a year."

Christie Lasky, vice-president of Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, said despite the tough economy, the lottery sold out and there were 26,701 winners of various prizes.

"It's a great day for (the hospital) because of all of the support of the ticket purchasers is really critical to the work going on at Princess Margaret," she said.

ROB.LAMBERTI@SUNMEDIA.CA