Supporter spots staffer's mole from the stands
Now, Canucks employee is cancer-free and fan has a scholarship to med school
Vancouver Canucks assistant equipment manager Brian Hamilton didn't realize he had a cancerous growth on his neck until he visited Seattle in October.
But an eagle-eyed fan sitting behind the Canucks' bench for the Kraken's inaugural home game on Oct. 23 at Climate Pledge Arena saw something that concerned her, and she alerted him.
And Hamilton got the chance to say thanks to that fan — Nadia Popovici — and let the world know the story.
As the story gained traction, in a surprise move at Saturday night's game in Seattle, the Vancouver Canucks and the Seattle Kraken announced a joint $10,000 fund to go toward Popovici's medical training.
Popovici is going into medical school next fall and has been accepted by several schools but hasn't chosen one yet. But that day in October, she had a chance to put her knowledge to good use.
Popovici was sitting behind the bench and got Hamilton's attention as he was rearranging ipads, gloves and extra skate blades between periods at that October game.
Popovici had written a note on her phone that said she was concerned about a mole she'd noticed on his neck. She made the text on the screen large and colourful, obviously hoping he'd notice it. He finally saw it but didn't think much of it initially.
“It had irregular borders and it was discoloured and fairly large,” Popovici, 22, told Postmedia on Saturday. Popovici spent some time helping out in an oncology ward, so she was familiar with what cancers like Hamilton's look like.
She was at the October game with her mom, Yukyung. Both are lifelong Canucks fans, though they have thrown their hockey dollars into Kraken tickets since the NHL arrived.
“My mom is a huge Canucks fan, a huge Canucks fan before the Kraken,” Popovici said.
It was a special thrill for them to be behind the Canucks bench for the Kraken's home opener.
Popovici and her family lived in Vancouver before her parents split up and she and her mom moved south to Washington. A dual citizen, she graduated from the University of Washington in 2019.
Hamilton told reporters Saturday that Popovici “changed his life.”
“She extended my life. I've got a wonderful family, a wonderful daughter. She saved my life. She didn't take me out of a burning car — like a big story — but she took me out of a slow fire,” he said. “I want you all to know that this isn't about me. It's about an incredible person taking the time to notice something concerning and then finding a way to point it out during the chaos of a hockey game. Going to great lengths to get my attention from the stands while I did my job on the Canucks bench,” he said in his original message. Hamilton said the message Popovici relayed to him on her phone will forever be etched in his mind, even if he didn't process it at first.
Hamilton, 47, said the message from Popovici lingered in his mind. Once he was back home in Vancouver, he asked his wife Jess to look at he mole and she agreed it looked unusual.
Three days later, he talked to Canucks team doctor Dr. Jim Bovard, who agreed the mole looked concerning and took a biopsy. Within days, it had been completely removed by a specialist, who said it was cancerous — a malignant melanoma. The specialist told Hamilton that the melanoma hadn't penetrated far into his skin, but it would have been a life-threatening situation if he had neglected it for another few years.
“It's a pretty surreal phone call.” After the Canucks shared a message on social media Saturday morning asking for help in tracking down the good Samaritan from Seattle, it didn't take long for word to spread and for the team and her family to connect.
The team was able to speak with her and arrange a meeting with Hamilton before Saturday's game.
“I'm happy that story's there, not for me, but for her, because the world needs to know that this woman exists, and she's a hero, and we need to celebrate her and people like her,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton was thrilled about the idea of meeting Popovici. The Canucks invited her to the arena early on Saturday so she could meet Hamilton and have dinner with him.
“I'm so happy his wife encouraged him to get the mole checked out,” Popovici said.
Hamilton said he hoped his message would prompt others to be aware of blemishes or moles on their skin.