Actor Ryan Reynolds had polyp removed during ‘potentially life-saving’ colonoscopy

The 'Deadpool' actor is sharing his experience to raise awareness on colon cancer. Photo: AFP

Ryan Reynolds is spreading the gospel of colonoscopies after he had polyps recmoved during a preventive screening.

Together with pal and co-Wrexham A.F.C. chair Rob McElhenney, the Deadpool actor underwent the procedure and shared the results in a new video from Lead from Behind, which raises awareness for colon cancer.

“Part of being this age is getting a colonoscopy. It’s a simple step that could literally, and I mean literally, save your life,” said Reynolds in the video, also made in association with the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.

Reynolds is informed afterwards by NYU Langone Health’s Dr Jonathan Lapook that the physician made the “potentially life-saving” discovery of a polyp.

“I’m not being dramatic,” said Lapook, Chief Medical Correspondent for CBS News. “This is exactly why you do this. You had no symptoms.”

Lapook then shows the cameras a snap of the polyp, which he says “could have ended up developing into cancer and causing all sorts of problems. ... Nobody would know that they had this. ... That’s why people need to do this.”

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star McElhenney is told by Los Angeles-based Dr Leo Treyzon after his procedure that three small polyps had been found and removed during his procedure. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service