Although it may seem like Willow from General Hospital dies after her surgery, fans will have to wait a few more episodes to find out if this is true.
General Hospital has managed to stay relevant and competitive in the daytime soap opera arena by cutting costs and through the support of its loyal fans.
Recently on the show, it seemed almost certain that Willow had died during her surgery, but it remains to be seen whether this is actually true.
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Why is General Hospital still on the air?
General Hospital is one of the few daytime soap operas that is still on the air, and it recently even crossed the 15000 episode mark in 2022.
While other long-running and popular ABC shows like All My Children and One Life to Live have been cancelled through the years, General Hospital has been able to cut costs by fast-tracking production.
These lower production costs paired with the supportive following of loyal fans that the show has amassed since its premiere in 1963 has helped General Hospital stay on the air for nearly six decades.
Does Willow die on General Hospital?
Willow was originally introduced as Aiden‘s schoolteacher, but as the episodes progressed, more and more mysteries unfolded, and it seemed like Willow could just not get ahead of all of the mysteries that surround her character.
Unfortunately, even after Michael and Willow could finally be together, got through all of their legal battles with Nina, and fell pregnant, they could not stay happy and carefree for long, as she was diagnosed with leukaemia shortly thereafter.
Willow did try to hold off on having treatment for her leukaemia for as long as possible in order to wait for the baby to grow strong enough to survive.
However, when things got dire in the 31 January 2023 episode, she finally agreed that she would have the surgery that would allow the doctors to harvest stem cells from the umbilical cord.
Even though they got the baby out safely during the procedure, Willow started getting delirious and she suffered a haemorrhage, where she flatlined.
In the final scenes of the episode, Harmony welcomed and enticed Willow to walk into the bright light.
Although this would seem to imply that Willow is in fact dead, with General Hospital’s reputation for bringing back seemingly dead characters, and the rumours that are floating around on social media that Willow will survive, it is not a sure thing that she will end up dying.
Fans of the show will likely have to wait another couple of episodes before they find out if Willow is truly dead.
Why do fans think that Willow will survive?
It seems very unlikely that the General Hospital writers will go through all of the trouble of writing so many intricate arcs for Willow, including the fact that Nina is actually her mother, only to kill her off later.
Moreover, several insiders have reported that she will end up pulling through after the surgery.
To add to this, fans also noticed that Katelyn MacMullen, who plays Willow on the show, is included in the cast list for the upcoming Nurses Ball and 60th anniversary episodes. This is what has convinced fans that she will not actually end up dying.
What to expect from the next few General Hospital episodes
It is likely that the 1 February episode will primarily focus on Michael as he has to balance the excitement of his child being born with the shock of finding out that Willow suffered a haemorrhage during surgery.
The rest of the February episodes will have to cover a lot of ground, including further complications with the secret that Portia has been keeping from Curtis as their wedding day approaches, the continued unravelling of the Cassadine family, and the conflict between Nina and Michael.
Why did Willow finally agree to go through with the surgery?
After Willow’s leukaemia progressed to a serious stage three, she decided that the best course of action was for her to try and find her biological mother. This is in the hopes that she could match her mother’s bone marrow to her own to treat the disease.
However, since Willow was so secretive about her diagnosis, Carly did not reveal her mother’s true identity before it was almost too late.
Eventually, it was revealed that Nina was Willow’s real mother and aside from the obvious tension between Nina and Michael, it also turns out that Nina was not a match for Willow’s bone marrow treatment.
This and Wiley’s visit is likely what convinced Willow to deliver her baby early in the hopes that it could save both of their lives.
