Rob McElhenney, Ryan Reynolds join forces to fight colorectal cancer with Lead from Behind
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are joining forces to fight colorectal cancer, which is increasing among younger people. The movie stars and Wrexham A.F.C co-owners are working on a new project called Lead from Behind.
Leading by example, the stars allowed cameras to record their colonoscopies, going public with a usually private procedure to help spread the word that colon cancer is preventable.
Ryan Reynolds is sharing his first colonoscopy.
"It's not every day that you can raise awareness about something that will most definitely save lives," Reynolds said.
The appointment is with Dr. Jon Lapook, chief medical correspondent for CBS News who's also a gastroenterologist.
"You did such a good prep that I was able to find an extremely subtle polyp that was on the right side of your colon," Lapook said. "This was potentially life-saving for you. I'm not kidding. I'm not being overly dramatic. This is exactly why we do this, OK, you had no symptoms."
"Thank you so much for this," Reynolds said. "Seriously thank you for pushing me to do this."
"This is the polyp. I just cut it off with the snare and it's gone," Lapook said. "You are interrupting the natural history of a disease of something of a process that could -- could have ended up developing into cancer."
Reynolds is raising awareness about colon cancer with McElhenney. They're co-owners of a soccer club.
McElhenney is from Philly and the creator and actor in the show, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." He's also a big Eagles fan.
"When the Eagles play their home opener on Monday night, so I'm very really about that," McElhenney said.
McElhenney's colonoscopy also revealed potentially pre-cancerous lesions.
"Today we found three polyps, they were small," Dr. Treyzon said. "They were not a big deal but certainly a good thing that we found them early and removed them."
Both actors are 45 years old, the age now recommended for people at average risk for colorectal cancer to begin screening.
Doctors say colonoscopies are the best way to find cancer early when it can be cured. They're not sure why it's striking a growing number of young people. Being sedentary and obese are among the bigger risk factors.