Man collects $20,000 jackpot after lottery T-shirt saved his life

May 4 (UPI) -- A Nebraska man who collected a $20,000 lottery jackpot said the win came just a few years after his life was saved by a Nebraska Lottery T-shirt.

Jimmy Brezina visited Nebraska Lottery headquarters in late April to collect his $20,000 prize from a Golden Cherry Multiplier scratch-off ticket, and he told officials the lottery had previously brought him luck in the form of a T-shirt he was wearing Oct. 13, 2012.

Brezina said he was wearing a Nebraska Lottery T-shirt under his corduroy shirt while working as a mold and pattern maker at a Lincoln machine shop. He said he heard a hissing sound followed by the explosion of a moisture accumulator just a few feet away from where he was standing.

The worker said multiple pieces of PVC shrapnel pierced his body and when his shirt was cut open at a local hospital they discovered a shard that had been headed for his viral organs had snagged on the T-shirt.

"That old t-shirt saved my life," he said.

Lottery officials said winners each receive a T-shirt when they collect their prizes, but Brezina's story earned him an extra two shirts.