‘General Hospital’ Star John J. York Gives Health Update Amid Cancer Battle

General Hospital star John J. York recently revealed that he has been battling cancer, and now he’s given his fans a health update. Earlier this month, the 64-year-old soap opera star announced that he was diagnosed with two forms of cancer: myelodysplastic syndromes, or MDS, and multiple smoldering myeloma, blood and bone marrow disorders. While speaking to PEOPLE, York said his cancer fight is “just another thing that I gotta now take care of,” as he’s lived with ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease since he was a teenager.

“I went through life with colonoscopies, medicines, the whole thing, and always had to be under doctor’s care,” York told the outlet, then adding, “and living life. Everything’s good.” The actor — who has played Mac Scorpio on General Hospital for over two decades — later shared, “I feel great. I mean, I walk three miles a day and I’m in great shape. And my diet is great and my appetite is great. [The doctor] said that was because we got it early.”

York went on to share about this experience with chemotherapy, explaining, “You check in and you sit and you wait. It’s like waiting for a table at a restaurant almost,” he then added with a laugh, “You know what I mean? It’s like about a 15-20 minute infusion for seven days in a row, and then 28 days after the first day of that infusion cycle. I had one in March, April, May, June, July, August, and now I’m gonna have another one coming up in September.”

“It is what it’s, you know what I mean? And then everybody’s gotta get their treatment,” he continued. “And then you go home, go about your life and you play with the kids. And here we are.” Notably, York revealed that he has been moved up on the donor priority list, and he believes that doctors may be close to finding him a bone marrow donor. “I’m excited about that,” he said. “Many of my family members tested. I believe that the age range is like 18 to 40 to join the registry at bethematch.org/matchformac.”

York also shared that amid his cancer fight, he’s been flying back and forth from his Tennessee home — where doctors have ordered him to “stay in semi-isolation” — to Los Angeles for tapings. “My whole philosophy is one day at a time; whatever they need me to do,” York said. “Well, if I’m staying in a hospital, I’ll stay in a hospital. If I can go home, I’ll go home, where we have a place where I can be by myself, you know, away from the kids.”

“Personally, I feel like it’s in God’s hands. God’s will be done,” York later concluded. “It’s gonna work out okay, one way or another. I’m either gonna survive or I’m not. And life goes on and things are gonna be okay for everybody… Let’s just go one day at a time.”