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NHL fan spotted staffer's mole from the stands. Now he's cancer-free, and she has a scholarship.
NHL
NHL fan spotted staffer’s mole from the stands. Now he’s cancer-free, and she has a med school scholarship.
By Kendra Nichols
Yesterday at 12:53 a.m. EST|Updated yesterday at 9:56 a.m. EST
Brian “Red” Hamilton, assistant equipment manager for the Vancouver Canucks, was walking off the bench during an October game in Seattle when a fan pressed her phone to the plexiglass. On it read a note: “The mole on the back of your neck is possibly cancerous. Please go see a doctor!”
On Saturday night, after the team posted a social media callout from Hamilton to find the young woman, he was able to thank Nadia Popovici, 22, in person for an act he says saved his life.
Popovici’s note “threw me off, so I kind of just shrugged and kept going,” Hamilton said in a news conference. “And so ... I felt bad because I felt like I didn’t really give her the time of day.”
But he still sought a second opinion from a team doctor, who “didn’t like the looks of it, either,” removing the mole and having it tested. The results: malignant melanoma. It had been caught early enough that removing the mole was all that was needed. Within a week of seeing the note, he was cancer-free.
“The words out of the doctor’s mouth were that if I ignored that for four to five years, I wouldn’t be here,” Hamilton said.
{snip}
By Kendra Nichols
Kendra Nichols is the Seoul hub editor at The Washington Post. Twitter https://twitter.com/kelynn
NHL fan spotted staffer’s mole from the stands. Now he’s cancer-free, and she has a med school scholarship.
By Kendra Nichols
Yesterday at 12:53 a.m. EST|Updated yesterday at 9:56 a.m. EST
Brian “Red” Hamilton, assistant equipment manager for the Vancouver Canucks, was walking off the bench during an October game in Seattle when a fan pressed her phone to the plexiglass. On it read a note: “The mole on the back of your neck is possibly cancerous. Please go see a doctor!”
On Saturday night, after the team posted a social media callout from Hamilton to find the young woman, he was able to thank Nadia Popovici, 22, in person for an act he says saved his life.
"The reason for the letter (today) was that I really wanted her to know her persistence and everything she did to get my attention, she saved my life." -Brian (Red) Hamilton
Link to tweet
Popovici’s note “threw me off, so I kind of just shrugged and kept going,” Hamilton said in a news conference. “And so ... I felt bad because I felt like I didn’t really give her the time of day.”
But he still sought a second opinion from a team doctor, who “didn’t like the looks of it, either,” removing the mole and having it tested. The results: malignant melanoma. It had been caught early enough that removing the mole was all that was needed. Within a week of seeing the note, he was cancer-free.
“The words out of the doctor’s mouth were that if I ignored that for four to five years, I wouldn’t be here,” Hamilton said.
{snip}
By Kendra Nichols
Kendra Nichols is the Seoul hub editor at The Washington Post. Twitter https://twitter.com/kelynn
