This is pretty crazy and pretty wholesome at the same time.
A woman named Nadia Popovici, 22, spotted a suspicious mole from the stands while watching the Seattle Kraken's game against the Vancouver Canucks on October 23. Canucks assistant equipment manager Brian "Red" Hamilton was just doing his job when the future medical school student noticed the mole and urged him to get it checked out.
She didn't want to make Hamilton uncomfortable by yelling at him through the glass, so she typed a note on her phone and held it up to the glass for him to see. The note simply said: "The mole on the back of your neck is possibly cancerous. Please go see a doctor!"
While Hamilton later said he initially "didn't give her the time of day," he asked his wife to take a look the next morning, and she noted its weird shape. The team physician also didn't like the look of the mole and removed it within days. A biopsy revealed malignant melanoma in situ 2, meaning the cancer was only on the outer layer of the skin and was detected before it could become even more dangerous.
After getting the cancerous mole removed, Hamilton wanted to find the young woman he credits with saving his life, so the Canucks put out a tweet asking for help so that he could say thank you.
Popovici's mom saw the post and realized it was about her daughter. Hamilton and Popovici were reunited before the Canuck/Kraken game in Seattle this weekend, and Hamilton was able to say an emotional thank you in person.
Popovici has been accepted to several medical schools and has plans to start in fall 2022, and I think it's safe to say she's ready!
The NHL thinks so too, and to thank her for her random act of kindness, they announced during the game the two teams were partnering to award her a $10,000 scholarship towards her medical school expenses.
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