SEATTLE — Brian “Purple” Hamilton was in the midst of transferring gear on the Vancouver Canucks’ bench in between intervals on Oct. 23 in Seattle when he observed a girl behind the bench urgent her cellphone towards the plexiglass.
The message on her cellphone was written in a big font and caught the eye of Hamilton, the assistant gear supervisor for the Canucks. The message expressed Nadia Popovici’s concern that she believed a mole on the again of Hamilton’s neck was cancerous and that he wanted to get it checked.
It turned out she was proper.
“I felt dangerous for the time being as a result of I’m strolling off the bench and he or she put her cellphone as much as the glass and on the cellphone it mentioned the mole on the again of your neck is most cancers. And it threw me off,” Hamilton recalled on Saturday earlier than the Canucks performed their second recreation of the season in Seattle. “So I form of simply shrugged and saved going. My preliminary response after I discovered was I felt dangerous as a result of I felt like I didn’t actually give her the time of day. I’m excited that she is aware of as a result of she must know.”
The Canucks posted a letter from Hamilton on Saturday retelling the story of how all this performed out and expressing his thanks and need to fulfill the girl in query. Inside barely an hour, each the Canucks and Seattle Kraken mentioned the 22-year-old Popovici had been contacted after spending New 12 months’s Eve working at a disaster hotline. The pair have been in a position to meet about 90 minutes earlier than the Kraken and Canucks performed on Saturday night time.
“The truth that I received to look him within the eye and listen to what occurred from his perspective,” mentioned Popovici, who graduated from the College of Washington and intends to attend medical college within the subsequent yr. “Think about how jarring that's to so that you can be at work and somebody simply form of appears to be like at you and says, ‘Hey, possibly you go see a health care provider.’ That’s not what you wish to hear. So the truth that I received to see him and speak to his members of the family which have been actually impacted by him dodging a giant bullet that’s so particular.”
The Kraken acknowledged the story of what occurred halfway by the primary interval to a standing ovation from the group and introduced each franchises could be giving Popovici a joint reward of $10,000 to assist along with her medical college bills.
Hamilton has been with the Canucks for practically 20 years, beginning with the group in 2002. Amid the chaos that occurs across the bench of an NHL recreation, Hamilton mentioned he was amazed Popovici was in a position to even discover a mole he had no thought existed.
“How she noticed it boggles my thoughts,” Hamilton mentioned. “It wasn’t very massive. I put on a jacket. I put on a radio on the again of my jacket that hooks on so the cords are there.”
Popovici mentioned she’s carried out numerous volunteer work in hospitals together with a stint serving to in an oncology ward.
“I noticed his and I used to be like, wow, that could be a image excellent instance of what a melanoma appears to be like like,” Popovici mentioned.
The sport in Seattle in October was the ultimate cease on the Canucks’ opening street journey. Inside a pair days of being again in Vancouver, Hamilton had group docs take a look at the mole in query. After they expressed concern, Hamilton had it eliminated a couple of days later and despatched off to be biopsied.
The biopsy outcomes got here again displaying there have been cancerous cells within the mole. A bigger space of pores and skin across the mole was then eliminated to be examined and Hamilton mentioned that got here again destructive.
Hamilton was advised by his docs the most cancers within the mole may have turn into life-threatening in a couple of years if it had not been addressed.
“It was solely on the outer layer of my pores and skin,” Hamilton mentioned. “It hadn’t penetrated to the second layer of my pores and skin and that’s as a result of we caught it so early.”
Hamilton mentioned the whole objective of telling his story and releasing the letter was to present Popovici recognition for her effort in getting his consideration and writing the message.
“I perceive I’m part of the story, however she must know she’s the story,” Hamilton mentioned. “She’s the person who did this. She saved the life. … She must know her efforts have been legitimate and bang on.”
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