John J. York, who has played Mac Scorpio on General Hospital for more than 30 years, took to social media today to explain why he has been on hiatus from the daytime drama.
“So last December, of ’22, I was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, and multiple smoldering myeloma, two blood and bone marrow disorders,” he said in a nearly two-minute video posted on X/Twitter (watch it below). “Over the past many months, I’ve had three bone marrow biopses, many chemo treatments — I have another one coming in a couple of weeks — and I’m closing in on a blood stem-cell transplant.”
York, who tweeted last week that we “will be taking a brief hiatus from the show in a few weeks,” also spoke directly to viewers about their possibly becoming a bone marrow donor for him or “thousands of others.” He directed folks to bethematch.org/matchformac.
York went on to add: “I just want to say thanks for all the support over the years. This isn’t goodbye, this is just so long. I’ll have to take a break for at least three, maybe four months. But I’ll be back. Someone once said that, ‘I’ll be back.’” He used an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice for that last line.
York has played Malcolm “Mac” Scorpio — the Australian estranged brother of Robert Scorpio, husband of Felicia Scorpio-Jones and the stepfather of Georgie and Maxie Jones — on General Hospital for more than 930 episodes since 1991. He also played the character in about five dozens episodes of the spinoff soap Port Charles from 1997-2001, a 2001 episode of All My Children and on General Hospital: Night Shift in 2007.
His other credits include the lead on Werewolf, which was part of Fox’s original lineup in 1987-88. He also has done guest spots on such series as My Wife and Kids, Even Stevens, Clueless, 21 Jump Street, Family Ties and Hotel.
