Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, who was born in Laos and immigrated to the U.S. in 1994, plans to split the money with a friend and find himself a “good doctor.”
One of the winners of a $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot this month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, 46, of Portland, told a news conference held by the Oregon Lottery on Monday that he and his 37-year-old wife, Duanpen, would split the prize evenly with a friend. Laiza Chao, 55, of the Portland suburb of Milwaukie, had chipped in $100 to buy a batch of tickets with them. They are taking a lump sum payment, $422 million after taxes.
Oregon does not check immigration status to apply for the state’s free insurance that covers anyone making less than 250% the federal definition of poverty. That means even undocumented immigrants get full access to Medicaid.
You can even get a driver’s license and send kids to school without including immigration status in Oregon (yay sanctuary states!). If he doesn’t want a license, trips to medical facilities are provided free. Getting that time off work is a different story…
He said in his speech he has been “battling cancer” and is getting chemotherapy treatment.