Christmas miracle for flood-affected Molong family

The hotel she runs with her husband in town was almost wiped out "from the front door to the back door" in the November floods that decimated the Central West.

Just four days later, her son, St George Illawarra Dragons young gun Cody Ramsey, was struck down with ulcerative colitis, a debilitating chronic disease that landed him in Wollongong Hospital for six weeks, and Ms Stojanov made the five-hour trip from Molong to care for him with just the clothes on her back.

With so many challenges thrown at the family over the past 10 weeks, they were more than due for a lucky break - and that's exactly what fate had in mind.

The day before Christmas Eve, Ms Stojanov ducked into the Dapto Mall to grab a last-minute present, and happened to stumble across the Dapto Rotary selling Christmas raffle tickets.

On a whim, she bought $20 worth of tickets to support the local Rotary, despite having never visited Dapto before in her life.

Just 20 minutes later on her drive back to Wollongong, Ms Stojanov got the call to say she'd won the major prize - a trailer filled with $4000 worth of food, appliances and gifts.

"I just started bawling in the car," Ms Stojanov said.

Ms Stojanov plans to donate many of the items to families in Molong who lost everything in the devastating floods - she's already given away two of the bikes to kids from the area staying with her in Wollongong, whose lives "have been turned upside down".

When the trailer was delivered to Ms Stojanov on Christmas Eve, she said it was an emotional moment - not only was the win overwhelming, but it was the first time she'd seen her son Cody up and about since he became sick in November.

"They delivered it to me at 7am, and that was the first time we'd seen him out of bed," she said.

Ms Stojanov said the St George Illawarra Dragons have also given incredible support to the family through Cody's illness, even providing her and her young daughters with a house in Wollongong to stay in over Christmas.

Now Cody is out of the hospital and recovering, Ms Stojanov hopes to return to Molong soon to give the items to the families who need them the most.

"Everything aligned for me to be there [at Dapto] that day - people in the floods really need stuff from out of that trailer," she said.

"Not only did we win it, but we've been able to change people's lives."

Ms Stojanov said she was incredibly grateful to the Dapto Rotary and the Illawarra Dragons for their support.

Dapto Rotary President Gayle Malcolm said the raffle had been running for around 30 years, and this year was particularly special.

"I was nearly crying when she told me her story," Ms Malcolm said.

"We just want to thank the Dapto community and everyone who bought a ticket."

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