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The actors filmed their procedures to raise colon cancer awareness.

Colon and colorectal cancer are extremely dangerous diseases, and much like other cancers, the best way to fight them is to catch them early. This is why doctors recommend regular colonoscopies for individuals aged 50 and up, though that age was recently brought down to 45 as younger individuals have begun showing signs of colon cancer.

To raise awareness about this practice and the disease, actors and celebrities Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney both opted to not only undergo colonoscopies, but film and post them. In a PSA filmed in conjunction with CBS, Reynolds underwent the very first colonoscopy of his life with the help of CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook.

“I would never normally have any medical procedure put on camera. It’s not every day where you can raise awareness on something that will most definitely save lives,” Reynolds said in the PSA. “That’s enough motivation for me to let you in.”

According to Dr. LaPook, these colonoscopies were actually potentially life-saving for both Reynolds and McElhenney. Dr. LaPook found a small polyp in Reynolds’s colon and several small polyps in McElhenney’s colon, all of which were successfully removed.

Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) and @RMcElhenney are on a mission to raise awareness about colon cancer with @LeadFromBehind — and they filmed their colonoscopy experiences to prove it.

“This was potentially lifesaving for you,” @DrLaPook told Reynolds after finding a polyp. pic.twitter.com/Pp1myG1bsQ

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) September 13, 2022

“This was potentially lifesaving for you. I am not being overly dramatic. This is exactly why you do this. You had no symptoms,” Dr. LaPook told Reynolds. “You are interrupting the natural history of a disease of something of a process that could have ended up, you know, developing into cancer and causing all sorts of problems. Instead, you are not only diagnosing the polyp, you are taking it out.”

“We have to raise awareness,” said Dr. LaPook.