Ryan Reynolds Filmed His (Potentially Life-Saving) Colonoscopy
Ryan Reynolds is getting very personal in the hopes that it will help to save lives. The 45-year old Deadpool actor recently decided to record his first colonoscopy. He did this to highlight the importance of the preventative cancer screening procedure.
For those who don’t know, a colonoscopy is performed with a camera inserted in to the rectum to look for abnormalities and changes in the large intestines. The preventative procedure is meant to detect health risks such as colon cancer, one of the leading cancer killers in America. Per the American Cancer Society, it’s recommended that people with an average risk of colorectal cancer start regular screenings at age 45.
“It’s a simple step that could literally, and I mean literally, save your life,” Ryan said during the video, in which he included his fellow soccer club owner Rob McElhenney, also 45. The duo teamed up with Lead From Behind, a new initiative hoping to spread the message that colon cancer is “the preventable cancer” and to break the stigma.
“I’ve been on camera a lot. But this was the first time one was shoved up my a–,” Reynolds said. “The procedure and prep were painless but the discomfort of filming and sharing the process was the hardest part.” In the video, Ryan shared the moments leading up to the procedure and his time in the recovery room, where his doctor dropped the news that he had found an “extremely subtle polyp.”
“This was potentially life-saving for you — I’m not kidding; I’m not being overly dramatic,” the doctor said. “This is exactly why you do this. You had no symptoms. You are interrupting the natural history of a disease of something of a process that could have ended up developing into cancer and causing all sorts of problems.”
Watch the video below:
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