My father died of colon cancer when I was five years old. When my mother passed away, we invited the surgeon who operated on him to speak at her memorial service, as she had left him some money in her will.
(He also removed malignant melanoma from my mother in a timely fashion, so we were glad about that.)
He gave a moving testimony about my parents, but afterwards, told me that I ought to get a colonoscopy promptly, as since my father had died of of colon cancer at a fairly young age, I was also probably at high risk.
I followed his advice, and have had several pre-cancerous polyps nipped in the bud.
I can’t say that I enjoy the procedure, and I especially dislike the cleansing process that proceeds it, but odds are I wouldn’t be able to complain about it here and now if I had ignored the surgeons advice.