‘She saved my life’ Vancouver equipment manager finds Kraken fan who noticed cancerous mole
Brian “Red” Hamilton will never forget the Seattle Kraken’s home opener.
It might have just saved his life.
During the game, a fan behind the Vancouver bench got the attention of the Canucks assistant equipment manager. She held up her phone to the glass, revealing a warning that the mole on the back of his neck could be cancerous.
“The thing that really registered in my mind that it wasn’t on a text,” Hamilton said during a Zoom call with the media on Saturday afternoon. “She had gone to more effort to make the font bigger and colorful so it would get my attention.”
On Saturday, hours before Vancouver’s return to Climate Pledge Arena, the Canucks tweeted a message from Hamilton in hope of finding the fan.
“The message you showed me on your cell phone will forever be etched into my brain and has made a true life-changing difference for me and my family,” Hamilton’s message read. “Your instincts were right and that mole on the back on my neck was a malignant melanoma and thanks to your persistence and the quick work of doctors, it is now gone.”
The Kraken later tweeted that the woman had been identified. The Seattle Times confirmed the fan was Nadia Popovici, who has been accepted into several medical schools. Hamilton called Popovici a “real-life hero,” and the two met and shared a hug before Saturday’s game.
During the first period, the Kraken honored Popovici with a message on the video board. As she was shown on screen — in the same seat as October — the announcer revealed that the Kraken and Canucks would be donating $10,000 towards her medical school tuition.
“It was on the back of my neck,” Hamilton said. “I didn’t even know it was there. Then when I started asking people, like doctors with the team, they didn’t like the looks of it either. I got scared right off the hop. I knew in the back of my mind that she was right.”
Hamilton said the mole had not penetrated the second layer of his skin. If the encounter never happened, the outcome might have been much different.
“She extended my life,” he said. “I’ve got a wonderful family. I’ve got a wonderful daughter. ... She saved my life. She didn’t take me out of a burning car, like the big stories, but she took me out of a slow fire.”
This story was originally published January 1, 2022 at 6:42 PM.
