‘Surreal.’ Lexington resident wins car on game show. She’s giving it up for others
One Lexington resident went to Los Angeles for work and came back the owner of a new car after winning it on the game show “Let’s Make a Deal.”
Michelle Raney, a speech pathologist and co-owner at Hogg Therapy, found herself on stage competing for a 2019 Ford Fiesta.
“It was the craziest, most surreal moment,” Raney said.
Her challenge was to pick the right key from a board of 15 keys and unlock a box that had the keys to the car in it. But she had a time limit. Host Wayne Brady offered her $1,500, and she was able to trade any amount of the money for additional time on the clock. Raney said she wanted to keep some of the dollars to donate back to her patients.
“That money — half of it could help the kids and the other half of it could help you win,” Brady said.
She decided to give up $1,000 for more time, and it worked out, as she unlocked the box at the last second.
“It was a super hard decision because I didn’t want to walk away with nothing,” she said.
The $1,000 she sacrificed turned out to be worth it for her clinic, as she’s now going to auction off the car or sell it, and give the earnings to help others. “Let’s Make a Deal” said the car was worth $18,105.
“We’re hoping to either provide services for families who can’t afford it, maybe increase their sessions if their kid needed a few more sessions than they’re able to afford, and then also maybe provide some more equipment,” she said.
Raney was in Los Angeles for a pediatric therapy conference with the two other co-owners of Hogg Therapy, Jennifer Fowler and Brittany Hogg, who are also Raney’s cousins. When they went to the taping of the show on Sept. 20, they joked that if they won anything, they’d give it back to their clinic.
“I really just want to stay true to that mission and give that money back to the kids,” Raney said.
As unexpected as it was, Raney said she’s happy to donate to her patients.
“Especially in the face of COVID-19, everybody’s strapped for money,” she said. “... It’s just kind of a cool thing, some extra money that we didn’t expect to have.”
Raney’s clinic, Hogg Therapy, provides pediatric speech therapy, pediatric occupational therapy and psychological assessments, according to its website. It has offices in Berea and Richmond, and is still seeing children through teletherapy during the coronavirus pandemic, Raney said.
This story was originally published April 22, 2020 at 3:38 PM.