A mum-of-three has shared the unbelievable story of how she went from “rock bottom” to winning £1million on the National Lottery.

Desirée Home from Maidstone endured a “catalogue of horrors” in which she battled bowel cancer, ’died’ twice, lost her job and had to sell her family home - until her luck changed for the better.

She said: “The phrase ‘you couldn’t write it’ springs to mind. I was standing on the bow of a boat spraying Champagne and holding a cheque with our names and a million pounds written on it, when just weeks before I had been juggling the sums and desperately trying to stay stress-free to aid my recovery.

“As I was recounting a potted history of my life, each recounted chapter prefixed with ‘And then’, with its myriad of twist and turns, I kept hearing ‘you should write a book’.”

And that’s exactly what she’s done, 10 years later.

She said: “I was 50 when I was diagnosed with Stage 3 bowel cancer which required invasive surgery and chemotherapy, and the seven years that followed were a catalogue of horror for the whole family.

“During my treatment, I ‘died’ twice from respiratory failure in the hospital and spent 11 days in ICU, halfway through chemo and unrelated to the cancer, I developed Cauda Equina Syndrome which required further surgery and to top it all, my husband and I lost our jobs.

''With absolutely no money and mounting debts we had no choice but to sell our forever home and move away into a small mobile home, splitting up our family. I think you can safely say, we’d hit rock bottom. And then it all changed.”

As Desirée was recovering at home, husband Wayne called to say they had won £500,000 on the EuroMillions Lottery.

Then he called again - it was actually £1m.

Desirée said: “I can remember that call from Wayne as clear as if it were yesterday, that moment when I realised that we could rebuild some of what we had lost and that the Desirée rollercoaster of life was rolling again.”

Despite the mum-of-three still being on a cocktail of medication and recovering from her latest surgery, she was determined to join Wayne in celebrating their National Lottery win.

It was as she shared her story with the assembled press on a summer’s day that she decided one day she would write it all down.

She said: ''Admittedly it’s taken me a while to get around to finishing it, and I have had some help along the way, but it feels right to finally publish my story, ten years after our luck finally changed.”

It was one of the many bucket list items Desirée and Wayne have achieved since their EuroMillions win.

From snorkelling in the Maldives to participating in the London to Brighton bike ride, and activities closer to home, such as seeing their three children financially secure and Wayne treating himself to a motorboat, to sit alongside their own private mooring.

She added: “As we started to rebuild our life, and tick off long-held dreams and ‘if we won the Lottery’ plans off our list, we were able to create the stability we had missed for so long.

‘I was standing on the bow of a boat spraying Champagne and holding a cheque with our names and a million pounds written on‘

“And without the financial worries I finally had time, and the headspace, to focus on the right self-care to help improve my health, and to reflect on the rollercoaster of my life.

''From my life in the WRENS, meeting Wayne, an ex-Submariner, the trials and tribulations we had as we brought up our three children, and then the horrendous crashes, to be followed by the incredible highs.

“I didn’t for one minute think I could write it all down in a book, then again neither did I think I would ever be a cancer survivor or hold a National Lottery cheque for £1m!”

The book, And then: One woman’s real-life story, from cancer diagnosis to losing the family home and then… a £1 million Lottery win, is on Amazon as a Kindle edition.