General Hospital star John J. York revealed that he was undergoing treatment for two blood and bone marrow disorders.
The actor (64) is on Wednesday posted a video on X to update his followers on his condition after sharing on the platform last week that he will “take a short break” from filming a long-running daily series.
“I said I’d let you know the reason I took a little break General Hospital and here it is,” he said. “So last December at 22, I was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, and multiple smoldering myeloma — two blood and bone marrow disorders.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are classified as “a group of cancers in which immature blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature or become healthy blood cells.”
Smoldering multiple myeloma is “a precancerous condition that changes certain proteins in the blood and/or increases plasma cells in the bone marrow, but causes no symptoms [myeloma] disease,” according to the NCI.
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“Over the past many months, I’ve had three bone marrow biopsies, lots of chemotherapy, I have another one coming up in a few weeks, and I’m getting close to a blood stem cell transplant,” York said.
The soap star also said he “worked with some wonderful people at Be The Match to find a potential donor on their registry.”
“If possible and if you would consider being a donor, join their registry, because not only me, but thousands and thousands of other people who need a donor, go to bethematch.org/matchformac,” he said. (Those interested in joining the Be the Match registry must be between the ages of 18 and 40.)
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John J. York.
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“I just want to say thank you for all the support over the years. This is not goodbye, this is just ‘See you’,” the television actor assured his fans. “I’ll have to take a break [from General Hospital] at least three, maybe four months, but I will be back.”
“Thank you so much. Watch Be the Match. Do whatever you can. Thanks for your patience, thanks for your time, thanks for your prayers. I’ll keep you posted. See you,” he concluded his message.
York is best known for his role as Mac Scorpio on ABC General Hospital. He has appeared in nearly 650 episodes of the daytime soap since his character was first introduced in 1991.
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Source: HIS Education