Vancouver Canucks: 'Hero' ice hockey fan Nadia Popovici awarded medical scholarship

2 years ago 24

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An ice hockey fan who spotted a cancerous mole on a member of the Vancouver Canucks staff has been awarded a $10,000 (£7,416) medical scholarship.

Watching from the stands, Nadia Popovici spotted the mole on the neck of Canucks assistant equipment manager Brian Hamilton during their NHL game with the Seattle Kraken in October.

Popovici warned him by typing a message on her phone and pressing it against the plexiglass surrounding the ice.

Following her advice, Hamilton has since had the mole examined and removed after it was found to be cancerous.

She is an aspiring medical student and both teams joined forces to award her the scholarship.

"She saved my life," Hamilton said. "The words out of the doctor's mouth were if I ignored that for four to five years I wouldn't be here.

"How she saw it boggles my mind. It wasn't very big, I wear a jacket, I wear a radio on the back of my jacket. She's a hero."

Hamilton wanted to initially thank Popovici but did not know her name, so set up a social media appeal to track her down.

The Canucks tweeted out an appeal to find the fan before they returned to play Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena on 1 January.

Popovici responded to the appeal and the pair were reunited at the National Hockey League game on Saturday, where she told him: "I was so nervous to bring it up so I tried to catch you at a moment where there weren't a lot of people around. I'm so glad you saw."

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