Lotto winner finds lost $500,000 winning ticket wedged in old notebook weeks before it was set to expire

A LOTTERY winner found a lost $532,234 winning ticket wedged in an old notebook just in time.

The North Carolina woman had been looking for the ticket for five months, and found it just weeks before it was due to expire.

Ana Maya, 32, told the she lost the ticket while moving to a new place.

She reportedly started panicking when she was unpacking and realized the ticket was nowhere to be found.

“These last couple of months have been very stressful trying to find it,” the winner said. “I totally forgot where I put it.”

Thankfully, Maya ended up finding the ticket pressed between the pages of an old school notebook.

“I was very, very relieved when I finally found it,” Maya added. “That was the last place I would have looked.”

Maya shared that she plans on spending her winnings on a vacation, as well as on bills, investments, and in savings for her two children.

The winning ticket was  a Quick Pick ticket for the September 6 Cash 5 drawing.

Winners have 180 days to claim their prize before it expires; Maya claimed hers before it would have expired on March 6.

After claiming her prize on Wednesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh, Maya took home $346,005.