The NHL's Seattle Kraken and Vancouver Canucks have teamed as much as donate $10,000 in the direction of a fan's training after she warned the Canucks' tools supervisor of a cancerous mole throughout a sport.

Medical scholar Nadia Popovici, 22, attended the Kraken's first-ever house sport Oct. 23, snagging seats on the glass straight behind the Canucks gamers' bench. It was then that she observed an alarming-looking mole on the again of the neck of Canucks' assistant tools supervisor Brian "Purple" Hamilton.

"I noticed his [mole] and I used to be like, wow, that may be a picture-perfect instance of what a melanoma appears like," Popovici acknowledged, including that her time volunteering in a neighborhood oncology ward allowed her to simply establish the mole as cancerous.

Popovici started banging on the glass to get Hamilton's consideration and typed out a message to him on her mobile phone: "The mole on the again of your neck is presumably cancerous. Please go see a physician!"

Hamilton later admitted that the message "threw me off."

"So I type of simply shrugged and saved going. My preliminary response after I came upon was I felt unhealthy as a result of I felt like I did not actually give her the time of day," Hamilton continued.

Kraken Canucks
Seattle Kraken fan Nadia Popovici acknowledged a cancerous mole on the again of the neck of Vancouver Canucks assistant tools supervisor Purple Hamilton, resulting in his mole elimination. Right here, Popovici, behind the glass in a blue beanie, and Hamilton will be seen greeting one another on the Canucks sport in opposition to the Kraken on New 12 months's Day. Steph Chambers/Getty

Nonetheless, the message apprehensive Hamilton, and after consulting with the Canucks' workforce physician, he determined to have the mole eliminated and biopsied. The check confirmed that the mole was a type-2 malignant melanoma that, though doubtlessly harmful, was capable of be successfully handled as a result of it was detected early.

"She took me out of a gradual hearth," Hamilton acknowledged throughout a press convention. "The phrases out of the physician's mouth had been if I ignored that [mole] for 4 to 5 years, I would not be right here."

After being given the all-clear from his medical doctors, Hamilton made it his mission to search out Popovici and thank her. The tools supervisor, by way of the Canucks' social media channels, posted a letter asking for assist figuring out the girl that had helped save his life.

"I need you all to know that this is not about me. It is about an unbelievable particular person taking the time to note one thing regarding after which discovering a technique to level it out through the chaos of a hockey sport," the letter stated. "We're searching for this unbelievable particular person and we'd like you to share this with your pals and households to assist us discover a real-life hero."

By way of the facility of the web, Popovici was recognized inside hours, and the Kraken and Canucks each invited her to the workforce's subsequent matchup in Seattle this previous Saturday to fulfill Hamilton.

The 2 reunited on the sport, the place Hamilton thanked Popovici for getting his consideration, admitting that her reaching out urged him to get the mole checked.

"It was your effort, and your persistence ... I owe it to this particular person to get checked," Hamilton advised Popovici. "I do not know her, I do not know what she is aware of, I do not know something about her. I must get this checked."

Popovici, a graduate of the College of Washington, is planning on attending medical college, and the Canucks and Kraken mixed to donate $10,000 in the direction of her training. The Kraken additionally stunned her with a video tribute on the workforce's scoreboard, to which she obtained a standing ovation.

"Some persons are saying this isn't even going to be a drop within the bucket, however belief me, it looks like the whole lot," Popovici stated afterward. "I am actually simply so grateful."

Newsweek has reached out to the NHL for remark.