Why General Hospital's Drew Cain Believed He Was Jason Morgan
In 2014 soap vet Billy Miller, who was then most recognizable for his role as Billy Abbott on "The Young and the Restless," appeared on "General Hospital." He portrayed a man who had been struck by a vehicle, underwent extensive plastic surgery on his face, and was left with no memory of his past (via Soap Central). The character was taken in by Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) and dubbed "Jake Doe."
As "Jake" began to fall in love with Elizabeth and create a life for himself in Port Charles, a woman named Hayden Barnes (Rebecca Budig) showed up in town claiming that he was a man named Jacob Barnes, and she was his wife. It was later revealed that Hayden was a con-artist hired by Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst) who was in love with Elizabeth and wanted to remove "Jake" from the picture.
In 2015, Carly Corinthos (Laura Wright) interrupted "Jake" and Elizabeth's wedding to reveal that she had a DNA test done that confirmed "Jake" was really her beloved friend Jason Morgan who was presumed dead for several years (via Soaps). The still amnesiac man would go on to live the next three years believing himself to be Jason Morgan, in the process reconnecting with Sam McCall (Kelly Monaco) and having a daughter with her, before the truth would be revealed — he was actually Jason's previously-unknown twin Drew Cain!
The revelation left everyone wondering how and why this mysterious man had come to believe he was someone else.
Helena controls Jake Doe's mind, and Carly reveals he is really Jason
In December 2015, Helena Cassadine (Constance Towers) came to Port Charles and began using mind-control on Jake Doe through a microchip she had implanted in him when she was holding him captive before his accident (via Soap Central). Jake Doe began noticing gaps in his memory and was eventually arrested for crimes he didn't know he had committed. Elizabeth Webber enlisted her friend Nikolas Cassadine (Tyler Christopher) to help free Jake Doe; he got his evil grandmother to admit to implanting the microchip, getting Jake Doe to do her bidding, and then forcing him to forget his actions.
Jake Doe had the microchip removed and all was well until Carly Corinthos revealed his identity as Jason Morgan, though no one knew he was actually Jason's twin Drew Cain (via Soaps). "Jason" realized that Helena told Nikolas, who then told Elizabeth that he was Jason. Not able to trust Elizabeth after she kept that information from him, "Jason" left her. Soon after, memories of his life as Jason began returning to him, and he reconnected with Sam McCall with whom the real Jason had previously been married to and had a son with.
Sam and "Jason" remarried and had another child, a daughter named Scout.
The real Jason returns
In 2017, a man known as Patient 6, later revealed to be the real Jason Morgan (Steve Burton), escaped from a clinic in Russia and made his way back to Port Charles (via SoapDirt). Everyone in town was shocked by his return considering that "Jason" was already there living his life with Sam McCall and their children. The two Jasons met, and things got complicated as both men shared the same memories and believed themselves to be the real Jason.
Both Jasons underwent a DNA test, which showed that the two men were twins, according to Michael Fairman TV. It's later revealed that their biological mother Susan Moore had actually given birth to twins and decided to bring one of the boys back to Port Charles to be with his father Alan Quartermaine. He became Jason Morgan (via Soap Central). She left the other boy in the care of Betsy Frank and hoped to return to him.
Unfortunately, Susan died , and Alan never knew his son had a twin. Betsy had no choice but to raise the second brother alongside her own son Bobby Frank (who grew up to be Franco Baldwin). Betsy eventually gave the other twin up for adoption, and he became Andrew "Drew" Cain.
Andre reveals the truth behind Jason and Drew's memory swap
Franco Baldwin (Roger Howarth) had been seeing Dr. Andre Maddox (Anthony Montgomery) and shared with him childhood memories of an imaginary friend named Andy, according to Soap Central. Over time, Franco began to realize that Andy was an actual person that he grew up with. Andre suggested that Franco keep the knowledge to himself. Years ago, Franco believed himself to be Jason Morgan's twin. When he heard about the two Jasons, he suggested that they look to Andre for answers.
When confronted, Andre admitted that he was an associate of Dr. Klein (Gene Farber) who worked at the Russian clinic Patient 6 escaped from. Andre explained that he conducted memory research for the World Security Bureau (WSB) in an effort to help patients with Alzheimers or dementia (via Soaps in Depth). He created technology that could read and copy someone's memories and allow them to be transferred, but the WSB shut the program down due to ethical concerns. Later, Andre had been contacted by Dr. Klein and asked to perform the memory swapping procedure on two of his patients — Jason Morgan and Drew Cain. Drew was ultimately implanted with Jason's memories; Drew's memories were placed on a flash drive.
Andre was also able to confirm Patient 6 was the real Jason. He offered to restore Drew's memories using the flash drive but warned that the procedure might cause the man to lose the memories he'd made since arriving in Port Charles. Not wanting to risk it, Drew decided to remain as he was and move forward with his new (true) identity.
Evildoers Helena and Cesar were behind everything
After cult leader Shiloh Archer (Coby Ryan McLaughlin) had Drew Cain's memories implanted into Franco Baldwin in an attempt to get information only Drew would have, it was revealed that he was working with Peter August (Wes Ramsey). Peter's real name was Henrik Faison, and he was the son of evil mastermind Cesar Faison (Anders Hove). It was also revealed that Peter and Shiloh had been the ones to originally kidnap Drew years earlier and deliver him to Helena Cassadine under orders from Cesar, who had joined forces with her.
It turned out Helena and Faison wanted to use the mob hitman Jason Morgan as their own personal mercenary, but he was unable to be psychologically manipulated by them due to brain damage he suffered as a teenager (via Soap Dirt). That's when the two decided to utilize Dr. Maddox's memory swapping technology to implant Jason's memories into Drew and use him for their own ends since he had been trained as a NAVY seal. By the time the truth was revealed, both Faison and Helena were dead.
In 2021, Jason was also presumed dead after helping to rescue Drew (now Cameron Mathison) from where he was being brainwashed and held captive once again, this time by Peter and Victor Cassadine (Charles Shaughnessy), according to Soaps in Depth. Peter is also deceased, and, though Victor has continued his attempts to "activate" Drew, his efforts have proved fruitless.