-These days,
I don't need to tell you the news stinks.
It's full of huge bummers,
like the climate crisis
and beloved late night hosts getting COVID.
Alright, fine.
Beliked?
Will you sign off on beliked?
But, every once in a while,
there's a story that makes me feel great
and I'd like to share one now, in a segment called
"The Kind of Story We Need Right Now."
♪♪
This right here is Nadia Popovici.
Recently, Nadia was attending a hockey game
between the Vancouver Canucks and the Seattle Kraken
when she spotted something --
an irregular mole on the back
of Canucks equipment manager Brian Hamilton's neck,
so Nadia did what any normal
hockey fan would do. She wrote...
...on her phone.
Then, she walked down to the Canucks' bench,
waved her arms until she got Brian's attention,
and put her phone up on the glass.
Brian saw it, went to a doctor, and had the mole removed
and, now, has a clean bill of health.
This is the kind of story we need right now.
It's nearly impossible to get good medical care in America,
and Nadia's at a hockey game, just giving it away for free.
She doesn't have to do that!
I'm sure there was at least one dentist in the crowd that night
who didn't say a word.
Also, do you know how focused you have to be
to spot something as tiny as a weird mole
in an arena full of drunk people watching a series of fistfights
between people with razors strapped to their feet?
A hockey game is a health professional's nightmare.
Now, you might think, "Sports fans are loyal.
What better way to show appreciation for your team,
than spot moles on the coaching staff?"
But Brian is a coach for Vancouver,
and Nadia was rooting for Seattle that night.
She saved the life of an opposing coach.
I grew up rooting for the Red Sox
and I once heard a fan at Fenway yell at a Yankees coach --
[ Boston accent ] I hope your next MRI finds a spot!
The reason Nadia knows so much about irregular moles is
because she works in a hospital
and she's starting medical school in the fall.
This is the kind of story we need right now.
She hasn't even started med school yet.
Do you know how cocky she's going to be on the first day?
What did everyone do this summer?
"Uh, I helped my dad out at the store."
"I diagnosed a melanoma through Plexiglass
with a beer in one hand."
And we should stress -- if you're actually going to go
to medical school, I don't think
they ask you on the first day
[ Laughing ] what you did over the summer.
After Brian got his mole removed,
he wanted to thank Nadia, but there was just one problem.
He had no idea who she was.
So he posted a letter on Twitter,
asking fans to help him find her.
The tweet went viral,
and the Canucks managed to track her down.
I'm hoping with a Mountie?
It's just a hope.
It took a few hours.
Why did it take a few hours?
Because, when Brian posted the letter,
Nadia was napping
after volunteering all night
at a suicide hotline.
That's right, she saves lives at hockey games
and she volunteers at a suicide hotline.
If we had more people like Nadia,
we'd have way more people.
Once Brian found Nadia,
he arranged for them to meet so he could thank her in person.
-Almost cried.
-I love that clip because it's heartwarming
and because it shows you're never too old
for your mom to say, "Tell your little friend I said hi."
You're probably thinking this story has gotten
as nice as it can get, but you're wrong.
Because later that day,
the Canucks and the Kraken announced
that they're teaming up to give Nadia
a $10,000 scholarship for med school.
I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but it's the NHL.
Ten grand is like 5 million in hockey dollars.
Also, to raise cancer awareness,
the Canucks are changing their mascot from Fin the Whale
to Sammy the Suspicious Lump.
This story is incredible and I think we can all agree
on three things -- that Nadia Popovici is a hero,
that the Seattle Kraken are a real hockey team
and not a fake one from a video game
that didn't pay a licensing fee to the NHL,
and this is the kind of story we need right now.
♪♪