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Heads were turning near the Prisma Health Greenville Memorial campus Monday after a giant pink inflatable object was set up near the hospital system's flagpole.

No, it wasn't a bounce house or an air slide.

It was a big colon or, or rather a 12-foot-high-by-12-foot-high section of one, complete with polyps.

The huge visual is part of a national tour to raise awareness for March’s colorectal awareness month.

Colorectal cancer is currently the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, but people under 50 have roughly doubled their share of overall U.S. colon and rectal cancer cases in the past decade.

Colorectal cancer is on track to nearly double in people under 50 by the year 2030, hospital officials said.

Prisma Health gastroenterologist Dr. Veeral Oza said the inflatable serves a serious purpose in showing people the difference between the normal pink tissues, growth polyps and cancerous tumors.

Oza says it's important for anyone 45 years or older to get screened for cancer regularly by undergoing a colonoscopy.

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