General Hospital’s John J. York Makes Big Announcement Post-Cancer Battle

Since returning to General Hospital this summer after undergoing a cancer battle, John J. York has made a big announcement on what he plans to do next.

A Miracle Match

On a recent episode of Daily Drama, hosted by GH’s Steve Burton and Bradford Anderson, York joined his co-stars to discuss his character’s latest storyline since his return and the health journey he endured while away. One of the things that York has touched on several times after battling two different blood cancers is the miracle of finding a bone marrow match.

“In September is when I found out that I had an exact match for my stem cells, which was an unbelievable, emotional phone call.” York got emotional as he recalled the moment to his co-stars. “To hear that we found an exact match, it’s just unbelievable.”

The actor also detailed his plans to meet the man he matched with, and the special reason behind the exact day they’re set to meet. “Hopefully, coming up on my anniversary – which is November 17th – that’s when I’m hoping to meet him.”

A New Endeavor

“This is kind of a new piece of information for everybody,” York began, prompting Anderson to call it breaking news. “I’m going to be working with NMDP – National Marrow Donor Program.”

York described the NMDP as a “support system, information system, help system” for people going through similar illnesses as him. “I’m just starting that and I’ll be making announcements on X and hopefully some PSAs.”

York’s latest X (formerly Twitter) posts came at the end of September when he donned an NMDP t-shirt and attended an NMDP Unite event in Los Angeles, CA, where he met with people who are both donors and recipients, as well as those currently awaiting matches.

This week General Hospital fans will see John York, who’s been with the daytime soap since 1991, return to the series. York joined Good Morning America on Monday to discuss his return after taking a hiatus to undergo treatment for myelodysplastic syndromes, or MDS, and multiple smoldering myeloma — two blood and bone marrow disorders.

The cast and crew greeted York with “Mac Is Back” T-shirts, and York has felt nothing but love from his colleagues. “Everybody has been very welcoming, very supportive,” he told GMA. “And here I go already [chokes up], ’cause I can’t tell you how nice it’s been, the support that I’ve gotten.”

York was first diagnosed in late 2022, but he didn’t publicly announce the diagnosis until September of last year, at which point he was preparing to take a break to recover from chemotherapy and a blood stem cell transplant.

“I just want to say thanks for all the support over the years,” York said in his social media announcement. “This isn’t goodbye, this is just ‘so long.’ I’ll have to take a break [from General Hospital] for at least three, maybe four months, but I’ll be back.”

When York was first diagnosed, his doctors informed him that he would live approximately three to five years if he took no steps toward treatment. At first, he balanced his treatment plan with his work on General Hospital.

“[I’d do] seven days of chemo in Tennessee, and then I was available to work for two, three weeks in California,” he told GMA. “My philosophy was always one day at time, let’s just get through today.”

York also explained that his formal announcement of his diagnosis motivated many to join the Be the Match registry to help those in need of marrow and stem cell transplants find a donor. The actor was lucky to find an exact match for his blood stem cell transplant.

“It’s just a bag of blood and fluid, and they put it in my body,” he explained. “Forty minutes later, and now I’m this person and my cells are now fighting each other and battling each other and getting to know each other. And here we are, back to work.”

Despite his break from General Hospital, York said that he doesn’t feel like he’s been away too long. “I just felt so attached that I didn’t feel like I missed anything,” he concluded. “I feel like I just had a little break, a little vacation I guess, and had to go through something and now we’re here on kind of the other side of it.”