With a questionable life-saving diagnosis, a young medical student has won over ice hockey clubs across Canada. The 22-year-old discovered skin cancer on the neck of kit man Brian Hamilton.
MONTREAL — With a questionable life-saving diagnosis, a young medical student has won over the entire Canadian ice hockey club and its fans. Brian “Red” Hamilton, one of the kit supervisors for First Division ice hockey team Vancouver Canucks, was looking for his savior with a letter that the club distributed via Twitter on Saturday.
Hamilton wrote, “The woman I’ve been trying to find: You changed my life and now I want to say thank you very much.” The woman was one of the spectators of the Seattle Kraken game against the Vancouver Canucks on October 23. He found a suspicious mole on the kit attendant’s neck in front of him and tried his best to get his attention.
“Please go to a doctor!”
Finally he wrote a message on his cell phone. He held a display of cell phones up to the panels separating the Canucks’ bench spectators to read Hamilton. “The mole on the back of his neck could be cancer. Please go to the doctor!”
Hamilton’s letter to his unknown savior spread quickly and was received within an hour. It was 22-year-old Nadia Popovici, who had recently been admitted to medical school. Hamilton was overjoyed at a press conference. “The only reason I really wanted to write the letter was to let her know that her persistence and everything she did was taken seriously.”
Hamilton himself had never noticed a dangerous mole. During investigation, however, it turned out to be malignant melanoma, also known as black skin cancer. Doctors removed the malignant tumor.
$10,000 reward
Hence Hamilton celebrated Popovici as a “heroine”. He is an “incredible person who took the time to notice something worrying and then found a way to draw attention to it during the chaos of an ice hockey game”.
On Saturday evening (local time), Popovici and Hamilton met in person for another game between the Canucks and the Kraken in Seattle. “It’s an incredible way to start your way into medical school! It’s priceless,” Popovici told Hamilton. “He’s so happy for Hamilton” that you checked it out”.
During the game, when Popovici wore an octopus shirt, both teams announced that they would support Popovici’s medical studies with $10,000.
