An NHL fan has been hailed as a hero for noticing a cancerous mole on the back of a Vancouver Canucks worker and finding a unique way to alert him. CBS News reported.
During an Oct. 23 game, the Canucks were taking on the NHL’s newest franchise, the Seattle Kraken, when a woman behind the ice rink’s plexiglass noticed a cancerous mole on Vancouver staffer Brian “Red” Hamilton’s back, CBS News reported.
Nadia Popovici was 22 years old when she pulled out her smartphone and typed a message in her notes application using a large font. “The mole on the back of your neck is possibly cancerous. Please go see a doctor!”She wrote. She was able to grab Hamilton’s attention during the wild match at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Hamilton was able to notice the difference. The New York Times reported.
“I felt bad at the moment because I’m walking off the bench and she put her phone up to the glass and on the phone it said ‘the mole on the back of your neck is cancer.’ And it threw me off,” Hamilton told Associated Press. “So I kind of just shrugged and kept going. My initial response when I found out was I felt bad because I felt like I didn’t really give her the time of day. I’m excited that she knows because she needs to know.”
Hamilton then went to the doctor and found out the mole did contain cancerous cells, CBS News reported.
He was told by his doctors the cancer in the mole could have become life-threatening in a few years if it hadn’t been addressed, CBS News reported.
“It was only on the outer layer of my skin,” Hamilton told the Associated Press. “It hadn’t penetrated to the second layer of my skin and that’s because we caught it so early.”
On Saturday, the Canucks posted a letter on their website detailing what occurred just a few months prior in hopes that the young fan would see it. Sure enough, she did, and Popovici and Hamilton were able to connect, CBS News reported.
The pair met for 90 minutes Saturday in Seattle again as the two teams faced off for the second time this season.
“The fact that I got to look him in the eye and hear what happened from his perspective,”Popovici spoke to the Associated Press. “Imagine how jarring that is to for you to be at work and someone just kind of looks at you and says, ‘Hey, maybe you go see a doctor.’ That’s not what you want to hear. So the fact that I got to see him and talk to his family members that have been really impacted by him dodging a big bullet that’s so special.”
During the match, the Kraken acknowledged the story and gave Popovici a hero’s welcome with the arena applauding her and her efforts. CBS News reported that Popovici and the Kraken announced that they would give her a $10,000 gift in a joint gesture to support her medical school costs.
Hamilton, who has been with the Canucks for nearly 20 years, said he was amazed Popovici was able to even notice a mole he had no idea existed because he was wearing a big coat, CBS News reported.