103-YEAR-OLD HOSPITALIZED OKLAHOMA MAN WINS $5,000 A-WEEK-FOREVER PUBLISHER’S CLEARING HOUSE SWEEPSTAKES

Harry Fairweather got so excited as the prize was being presented, he suffered a fatal heart attack

By Pamela Putz

The Unconventional Gazette / July 18, 2013

LAWTON, Oklahoma – Lawton resident Harry Fairweather was awarded the Publisher's Clearing House $5,000 A Week ‘Forever’ prize. The ‘Prize Patrol’ brought the good news to the 103-year- old winner at Comanche County Memorial Hospital where he has been hospitalized in critical condition for a week following a series of strokes and a near-fatal heart attack.

On Friday, when Publisher's Clearing House executive director Dave Sayer started to present him with his first 11 week's worth of payments - a check for $5,000 and another for $50,000 – Fairweather became excited and suffered a fatal heart attack. Doctor Jodilyn Aquino, his attending physician, said the excitement was too much for him and brought about the fatal heart attack.

The ‘forever’ portion of the award means the winner will choose a friend or relative to continue receiving payments after his eventual death, for the remainder of his or her own life.

Unfortunately, Fairweather died before he could name a friend or relative to receive the forever payments. Sayer told reporters that no prize money would be awarded because the prize rules had not been complied with.

Atwell Butteerworth, attorney for Harold Fairweather, the deceased winner’s oldest son, announced Tuesday that his client has filed a $25 million lawsuit against Publisher’s Clearing House, Dave Sayer, and those who participated in the Prize Patrol for directly causing the death of Harry Fairweather. “These people had no right to barge into the critical care unit and they should have known their presence would be too much for his heart to take,” said Butterworth.

Fisticuffs between men and hair-pulling among women broke out several times at a Monday gathering of Fairweather’s survivors during arguments over who should be entitled to the prize money. Calm was restored when all agreed to file a lawsuit against Publisher’s Clearing House and Dave Sayer.

At press time, prominent Dallas, Texas litigator Andrew Yung of the Yung Keithly law firm announced he had been engaged by Fairweather’s survivors to secure the prize money from Publisher’s Clearing House. “The Prize Patrol never gave Mr. Fairweather an opportunity to designate a recipient for the prize money,” said Yung. “Dave Sayer and the other members of the Prize Patrol may have known that in all the excitement, a critically ill Mr. Fairweather would be likely to suffer a fatal heart attack.”