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What started out as a friendly bet between actor Ryan Reynolds and his friend and fellow actor Rob McElhenney, in the end, might have saved Ryan's life. Ryan bet Rob that if Rob learned to speak Welsh, Ryan would get a colonoscopy on camera. Ron learned to speak Welsh, therefore winning the bet and Ryan was off to get his first colonoscopy as a result. What Ryan probably wasn't counting on was that his doctor found a small polyp on Ryan's colon and was able to remove it. Had Ryan not lost the bet and gotten the colonoscopy, that polyp could have gone undetected and led to colon cancer eventually if left untreated.
Ryan lost the bet and took viewers along with him as he had the procedure done. His doctor explained it would take 30 minutes, and when the procedure was done, Ryan’s doctor explained the results.
"This was potentially life-saving for you — I'm not kidding, I'm not being overly dramatic," the doctor told Ryan. "This is exactly why you do this. You had no symptoms."
During the procedure, the colonoscopy revealed Ryan had an "extremely subtle polyp,” which the doctor was able to remove.\
Rob ended up deciding to have a colonoscopy as well, through which his doctor discovered three polyps. Though his "were not a big deal,” per the doctor, it was “certainly a good thing that we found them early and removed them."
The video is fun but it’s also, critically, an important message that men should get screened for colon cancer and that the ideal way to do that is before any symptoms push you to see the doctor.
The American Cancer Society says that screening should start at 45 years old, and that if more people do so, more lives will be saved.
You can watch the full video, below...
Carolyn McArdle talked about it on the air. Listen below...