- Nadia Popovici saw a mole on the back of Brian Hamilton's neck whilst watching a hockey game.
- She alerted the equipment manager by typing out a message on her phone, saving his life.
- Hamilton was diagnosed with malignant melanoma, and when cured, searched to find Popovici and thank her.
Watching the Canucks and the Seattle Kraken Ice Hockey game at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on October 23, medical student Nadia Popovici was distracted by the sight of a mole on the back of the Kraken's assistant equipment manager' Brian Hamilton's neck.
The 22-year-old decided she needed to get a message to the then stranger. She believed it could be cancerous.
After getting his attention, she wrote a note on her phone and pressed it against the perplex glass separating the crowd and the game.
"The mole on the back of your neck is possibly cancerous. Please go see a doctor!", she typed out, highlighting the words "mole," "neck," and "cancer" in red.
Hamilton saw the message and later went home to his partner to have her look at the mole. She confirmed its unusual appearance, so he went to the doctor.
A biopsy confirmed that Popovici was right: Hamilton had cancer, a type-2 malignant melanoma.
The early detection of his cancer meant a simple removal and treatment. Hamilton's life had been saved by a stranger.
After this miraculous encounter, Hamilton went on a mission to find Popovici and thank her.
"She took me out of a slow fire," Mr. Hamilton said at a news conference on Saturday. "And the words out of the doctor's mouth were if I ignored that for four to five years, I wouldn't be here."
—Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) January 1, 2022
On January 1 he wrote a letter and posted it to the Cancuck's Twitter page, saying: "I am trying to find a very special person and I need the hockey community's help. To this woman I am trying to find, you changed my life, and now I want to find you to say THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! Problem is, I don't know who you are or where you are from."
After explaining the story, Hamilton ended the letter by saying "We are looking for this incredible person and we need you to share this with your friends and families to help us find a real-life hero, so I can express my sincerest gratitude."
Less than three hours later, Popovici's mother saw the letter, and immediately sent her a number of texts and calls, The New York Times report.
Popovici was already planning to go to attend a game that evening between the Canucks and Kraken in Seattle, and there she was invited to meet Mr Hamilton.
Not only did she get to meet the man whose life she'd saved - she was presented with a $10,000 scholarship to use for medical school fees.
—Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) January 2, 2022
In an interview with The Hockey Writers, Popovici said that — whilst she's incredibly grateful for the scholarship — the most impactful moment was when she got to meet Hamilton's partner and daughter over FaceTime.
"Red requested for this to be done without cameras or recordings and I'm so glad he said that because it was such an intimate, emotional moment that I will cherish" she said.
"I got to hear what an incredible father and man Red is and hear how this scary but relieving news felt to his closest family.
"His family and mine are now all connected and planning future dinners and meetups once COVID protocols lift. It's baffling how in one day, Red went from a stranger to family to me," she said.