Heartwarming story of fan saving Canucks trainer's life makes worldwide news
Red and Nadia’s heartwarming story that kicked off 2022 has made news around the world.
Nadia Popovici, a 22-year-old Seattle Kraken fan, somehow spotted a cancerous mole on the back of the neck of Brian “Red” Hamilton, the Vancouver Canucks assistant equipment manager, during a Canucks-Kraken game on October 23. Despite sitting in the front row, getting Red’s attention was difficult, as Hamilton is used to ignoring hecklers in the crowd.
But Popovici didn’t give up. She eventually got the Canucks trainer to look at a message on her phone pressed up against the glass, and he got the mole looked at. Red got the cancerous mole removed and he credits Nadia for saving his life.
Red got to meet his hero before the New Year’s Day rematch between the Canucks and Kraken in Seattle.
“When you showed me your phone, I was like, ‘Well that’s weird.’ That wasn’t what I was expecting to see,” Hamilton told Popovici. “But it was your effort, and your persistence, and the fact that you just didn’t write it, the way you wrote it, I owe it to this person to get checked.”
“The words out of the doctor’s mouth were if I ignored that for four to five years, I wouldn’t be here,” Hamilton told reporters on Saturday. “She extended my life, she saved my life.”
Nadia, who is a Canadian living in Seattle, is going into med school, so the Canucks and Kraken rewarded her with a $10,000 scholarship.
Together with the @SeattleKraken, we awarded Nadia Popovici a $10,000 scholarship for medical school as a show of our appreciation 👏 pic.twitter.com/VgK8aMgJTA
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) January 2, 2022
Naturally, the story made headlines across the sporting landscape in North America, but it has gone well beyond that.
The story is making news all over the planet.
In Canada, the pair were interviewed for a story on The National on CBC. Nadia and Red were interviewed on the NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, as well as CNN’s New Day morning show in the United States.
They have also appeared ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC’s Today, and they’ll be on the CBS Evening News on Friday.
There’s an ESPN feature coming this week, too.
Nadia was interviewed by Sky News in the United Kingdom, and there are news reports to be found in many different languages around the globe.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” a Canucks spokesperson told Daily Hive.
You can read about this heartwarming tale on websites like the BBC, The Guardian, and the Daily Mirror in the UK. The New York Times has a story on it in the United States.
People in Spain, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Nigeria, Iran, India, Russia, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia, among other countries, now know the story.
「そのほくろ、がんかも」
ホッケーファンに伝えられたスタッフが、命の恩人と奇跡の再会。
客席から携帯で見せられたメッセージが命を救いました😊🏒 https://t.co/KDvYtaAb8N
— ハフポスト日本版 / 会話を生み出す国際メディア (@HuffPostJapan) January 4, 2022
Watch this pre-med student get honored at a hockey game after spotting a cancerous mole on an assistant equipment manager. #MorningBoost pic.twitter.com/pisheOSmaZ
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) January 3, 2022
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