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I accidentally came across a spoiler on a website called “Soap Opera Spy.” I don’t know how reliable that site is for spoilers but I thought I would share it anyway.

It says that Finn starts to wonder if his father was diagnosed correctly because of something he sees, and rushes to perform new medical tests.

Finn explains why he wants Greg retested-and he wants to do it himself to make sure of no errors; after what he’s just been through he trusts no one.

Finn treated him several years ago for Lyme disease. It could have just gone into remission and he wasn’t rechecked.

Like I said, I don’t know the reliability of that website. So take the above with a grain of salt.

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I am a multiple decades-long GH viewer that has grown tired (finally?) of serious medical problems being miraculously reversed. Including back-from-the-deads. For example:

• Both Ava & Spencer were horribly burnt by fire, but not long after were gorgeous again.
• Sam was unable to conceive a child, until she could.
• Sonny, Ned and Esme lost their memory for months. No amnesia now of course.
• Michael appears to be in pretty good form, even though he was shot in the head years ago.
• Alexis doesn’t have breathing issues, despite having had lung cancer.
• Laura was institutionalized for years but now it’s never a concern.
• Willow’s leukemia didn’t prevent her from having a healthy baby and eventual healthy body.
• Sonny, Carly and Jason have all come back-from-the-dead.

Etc., etc. Soap viewers I guess learn quickly to toss reality aside. I get that. But still its kinda messed up after decades of history? Yes? No? Maybe? On a show called “General Hospital”?

Now weirdly enough (or not weirdly), and after saying all this, dang I HATE the thought of losing Gregory. I like how he has helped me like so many GH characters even more, i.e. Tracy, Alexis, Finn, BLQ.

Gregory Neale Harrison in my heart is definitely keeper-worthy. Plus I can so picture PC’s Gregory as a romantic interest for so many historic female characters.

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Could be. Symptoms of Lyme disease mimic a lot of other diseases. I read recently that Kris Kristofferson was told he had Alzheimers several years ago, and it turns out all his symptoms, such as fibromyalgia and severe muscle spasms were the result of Lyme disease he had acquired in 2006. It wasn’t until 2016 that he was tested for Lyme. Gregory’s symptoms could be the result of Lyme disease. We will see.

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I said this long ago — it’s not ALS, but something else.

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An example of how similar the 2 diseases are:

My cousin was diagnosed with Lyme disease and treated for it in an insane number of ways for about 2 years but she still progressively got worse.

Turns out is was ALS. That was 8 years ago. It started with a numbness in one foot and she now requires full care due to inability to walk or lift anything, and her speech is so slurred and slow that communication is difficult. But her thoughts, mind, contagious (Albeit very crooked) smile and amazing sense of humor is still 100% her!

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I love Gregory. He’s such a handsome older man. A keeper for sure.
But I do agree with original poster about illness that is not portrayed accurately.

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Months ago I started a thread “SAVE GREGORY” my whole theme was I think he was misdiagnosed. He is just too good to ditch. The chemistry with Tracy is what put the idea in my head. They struck gold with those two so I do think GH is heading down that road.

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I mentioned this differential diagnosis (Lyme disease) for Gregory (on this message board) multiple times way back as early as May 2023. I even brought it up again yesterday in a different thread.

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Explained it perfectly! There is also Maxie’s non existent heart transplant scar & Skye was also told that children were impossible until they weren’t…however, I say to make a mockery one more time of the medical industry for Gregory’s sake. He is a PEACH!

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grown tired (finally?) of serious medical problems being miraculously reversed

Don’t forget Curtis who was shot and paralyzed!

He underwent some human trial experimental surgery that had a very low percentage of success. I forget the exact numbers but I think out of all of them there was only two or three that were a success or partial success.

Of course he’s going to be a success story and he’s going to end up walking.

A huge slap in the face for people who are actually paralyzed.

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I look at it the same way. These ‘medical miracle’ stories are, indeed, a slap in the face to people who truly have some of these life-altering conditions.

It goes back to being ableist (I think that if the term) and not respecting or believing the fact that there are people living and thriving WITH these life-altering diagnoses and conditions every single day. Instead, on these shows, they always portray someone in a wheelchair or with another type of disabling condition as being ‘less than’ and to be pitied.

As someone who has family members, as well as close friends and former colleagues, who ARE in wheelchairs and/or who are living and thriving every single day with MS,spinal cord injury, amputation and other distress with no cure (except on GH, of course), I find myself becoming angry as I watch their magical miracle cures.

Instead of magically healing conditions that have no cure in real life, why can’t they show them thriving and living full lives vs. the 24/7 pity parties that they do. The people in my life would get really pissed off if people treated them like that. And rightfully so.

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Marshall is another misdiagnosed character.
Chet (nurse Amy’s brother) was not treated this way. He had a physical reason why they couldn’t change him. I never liked the Ava burn healing/surgery story. If GH is going to do these type of stories, fatal diseases, permanent mobility or other life altering conditions, bring in temporary actors to be seen in the hospital for treatment, diagnoses and release after it is determine the patient can be discharged. If a regular on the soap gets a disease that would have some long term effect show the character with whatever the effect is. Example say someone has COPD show the person having breathing problems, coughing their head off or using nebulizers or inhalers.
New discoveries in medicine happen all the time but on this soap they happen to much and patients are diagnosed incorrectly a little too often to be believable.

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New discoveries in medicine happen all the time but on this soap they happen to much and patients are diagnosed incorrectly a little too often to be believable.

The message they are sending is that physical imperfections such as burn scars, surgical scars, paralysis, symptoms from a debilitating disease etc are intolerable and need to be cured or fixed

Intolerable is not the right word. What I’m trying to say is that the writers don’t want any character that has any physical imperfections.

Look at all of the characters on all of the existing soap operas, there is no such thing as an “ugly character.” They are all physically visually perfect.

Y&R did Adrienne Leon dirty! She played a much beloved character named Colleen.

She had an allergic reaction to wool clothing, and was on a steroid medication that caused her to gain weight.

She did an interview with soap opera weekly and explained what happened.

She was going to diet the weight off, but the head writer, which I think was Lynn Marie Latham at the time, told her to hold off because they wanted to do a storyline on weight loss. So she waited and she waited but that storyline never came.

One Friday after taping she left the studio and later that same day got a phone call telling her to not come back. They had already recast the role.

She and most everyone else believes that it was weight related.

I see nothing wrong with having a character in a wheelchair, or with visable scars etc.

Another example on Y&R was a character that was diagnosed with diabetes. He talked about it a few times but was shipped out of town not long after that. What is wrong with having a character having to check their blood sugar and give themselves an insulin injection every so often? It’s what a lot of real life people do. It would be nice if they had a character that they could relate to.

There are actors who are in wheelchairs or are legally blind. Why can’t they get a permanent role on a soap opera?

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I for one realize that GH is not real. After all, how come these working moms aren’t stressed out about all they have to do? Their kids are angels, house is always clean, car always works, money isn’t an issue, etc. With so much sadness in the world, I like the escape from reality. When the writers actually killed off Oscar (few years ago) when he was only 16 years old, I was so upset. Up until his last breath, I thought he was going to be cured. It was heartbreaking. I think the vast majority of fans want Greg’s disease misdiagnosed & curable/manageable. I know I do.

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I had no idea about Adrienne!

The show needs a character (s) with a disability without the disability being their “story”. Preferably portrayed by an actor with the same disability.

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The only thing that will make me ‘mad’ about Gregory being misdiagnosed, is GH seemed to cover all the bases, for misdiagnosis to not be possible. They have repeatedly mentioned the Mayo Clinic (by name) conferring it was ALS. They had another expert come in to also say rhat. He now goes to an expert Dr on how to deal with the symptoms. After all of these t’s are crossed, if they come out and say, oh Finn realized it was something else. All of the other drs and clinics knew he had had lyme… that is in his medical history . So they would have thought it was lyme, if it still was.
I only wish, if indeed he doesnt have it, that the show had just called his degenerative disease, some mystery, unknown name, that mimicked ALS. And had not named the Mayo Clinic. Then it would be more realistic to realize he was misdiagnosed.
But ALS, sadly, isnt some mystery illness. Many many people have it. To dismiss the seriousness of this real disease, by a ‘whoops, every expert in the US made a dumb mistate’ is cruel to those who have it. And slanderous to a real place, the Mayo Clinic.
Because of this . I do believe he truely has it. I believe they painted themselves in a corner. If only they hadnt called it ALS, but had made up some other disease.

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GH had that actor that had MS(?) on that played a lawyer. She wasn’t on long.

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I’m good with Gregory being misdiagnosed, but I do not want Tracy in a triangle with him and Alexis.
Tracy doesn’t deserve to have to fight with that shrew for a man’s attention.

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Thank you! You said this is much more eloquently than I was able to. But this is what I have been saying all along. Anybody that is not perfect, is considered less than end of that worthy of being part of the social circle of Port Charles.

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New discoveries in medicine happen all the time but on this soap they happen to much and patients are diagnosed incorrectly a little too often to be believable.

The message they are sending is that physical imperfections such as burn scars, surgical scars, paralysis, symptoms from a debilitating disease etc are intolerable and need to be cured or fixed

Intolerable is not the right word. What I’m trying to say is that the writers don’t want any character that has any physical imperfections.

Look at all of the characters on all of the existing soap operas, there is no such thing as an “ugly character.” They are all physically visually perfect.

Y&R did Adrienne Leon dirty! She played a much beloved character named Colleen.

She had an allergic reaction to wool clothing, and was on a steroid medication that caused her to gain weight.

She did an interview with soap opera weekly and explained what happened.

She was going to diet the weight off, but the head writer, which I think was Lynn Marie Latham at the time, told her to hold off because they wanted to do a storyline on weight loss. So she waited and she waited but that storyline never came.

One Friday after taping she left the studio and later that same day got a phone call telling her to not come back. They had already recast the role.

She and most everyone else believes that it was weight related.

I see nothing wrong with having a character in a wheelchair, or with visable scars etc.

Another example on Y&R was a character that was diagnosed with diabetes. He talked about it a few times but was shipped out of town not long after that. What is wrong with having a character having to check their blood sugar and give themselves an insulin injection every so often? It’s what a lot of real life people do. It would be nice if they had a character that they could relate to.

There are actors who are in wheelchairs or are legally blind. Why can’t they get a permanent role on a soap opera?

long ago on general hospital they brought on lila and edward quartermaine …anna lee who played lila was in a car accident 1 year into playing lila…she was paralyzed but she played lila in her wheel chair for 20 years anna lee said she “wanted to die with her boots on” instead jill farren phelps let her go…anna was heart broken and died several months later

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