Penticton Honda and Penticton Hyundai ended their first ever holiday car giveaway Monday, surprising winner Danielle Grant.

The mother of three’s story was selected from more than 130 local nominations submitted through Castanet. She is battling stage-three breast cancer and is just finishing her eighth round of chemotherapy.

“Our vehicle recently packed it in and we are going to start radiation treatment in Kelowna probably in January, where we will be going every day,” husband Chris Luty said.

“We really needed it,” Grant added, explaining they were not sure what they would have done had they not won the 2008 Toyota Matrix.

“We’ve been hitting it with as much chemo as possible for the last six months, so I haven't been working, and he’s [Luty] been just so good taking time off to take me to appointments and here and there, Vancouver, Kelowna, everywhere,” Grant said. “It’s all just fallen on him, he’s been really good taking care of us.”

The couple have kids aged 8, 12 and 13.

“It’s been an exhausting year, in all ways you can think about…a long year,” Luty said, calling the car an “immense” help to the family.

Sponsors including the dealerships, Underwriters Insurance, Schoenne Homes, Penticton Collision, Husky and VBS Excavating pitched in to include insurance, gas and other items that brought the total prize value to about $9,000.

“There are a lot of families in need, and we were trying to get somebody to the next level if they were struggling a little bit due to a reason that’s not their own,” said Mike Van De Leest, Sentes Automotive Group. “Just trying to give them a vehicle to make it easier for their family.”

The two dealerships hope to grow the giveaway next year to, possibly, more than one vehicle.