For the Vancouver Canucks, it was a no-brainer to say thank you by rolling out the red carpet.
In what became a worldwide news story, Popovici, while attending the Seattle Kraken home opener against the Canucks on Oct. 23, pointed out a mole on the neck of Vancouver equipment manager Brian "Red" Hamilton.
The mole turned out to be cancerous. Hamilton had it removed and sought out Popovici to thank her.
"Honestly, it feels like I have been thrust into a movie," Popovici told NHL.com. "I woke up on New Year's Day and everyone was trying to find me and it has just snowballed since then. People want to hear the story and most of all, they believe in where I'm going and they believe in my goal to become a doctor... I feel so incredibly blessed. It's absolutely surreal."
Since then, Popovici and Hamilton have done TV appearances and are now so intertwined, they've become like family.
"This is the first time meeting [Hamilton's family] in person," Popovici said. "I got to hug them and we had a lovely dinner. We talked for almost six hours at dinner. They are the best people. I couldn't have asked for a better family to be combined with mine at this point."
At the game Monday, the Canucks played a special video retelling the story.