‘General Hospital’ Star Kate Mansi Shares Health Update After Life-Saving Surgery by Stepdad

General Hospital star Kate Mansi has been reflecting on a scary situation in 2015 when she had to undergo emergency surgery to save her life.

The Daytime Emmy-winning actress, who portrays Kristina Davis on the ABC soap opera, recently spoke with People in honor of March’s Endometriosis Awareness Month. Mansi revealed how her own endometriosis diagnosis came following a unique experience.

In 2015, Mansi suddenly started suffering severe cramps, heavy bleeding, and nausea. Her stomach also became distended to the point where she couldn’t fasten her pants.

“It had been going on for a couple days, and doctors just kept dismissing it,” she recalled, noting how doctors suggested it could be an IUD issue or a bad period or even the flu.

Despite immense pain, Mansi pushed through and continued working. At the time, she was starring on Days of Our Lives as Abigail Deveraux. She remembered how her makeup artist told her she looked “green and pale.”

“I’ve never gone through childbirth, but it felt like I was having extreme contractions,” Mansi shared with the outlet. “They would say action, I would do my scene, and then the second they said cut, I was literally doubled over in pain. It got unbearable that I ended up driving myself to the emergency room that day.”

At the hospital, Mansi met with her mother and stepfather, who is an OB-GYN, and found that an 11-centimeter mass had formed in her abdomen. The doctors called an oncologist, but Mansi’s stepfather said she needed emergency surgery and volunteered to perform it himself.

“My stepdad was so frustrated — and because he’s my stepfather, so it’s not a blood relation — he scrubbed in himself and was like, ‘I’m not waiting for an oncologist. I’m gonna do the surgery or she’s not gonna make it,'” Mansi stated. “And he did a surgery that ended up saving my life.”

It turned out Mansi had an ovarian cyst that had ruptured and hit a blood vessel, leaking “a liter and a half of blood into my abdomen.” Her stepfather removed the mass, and that’s when he found “all this endometriotic tissue.”

Related

'Days' 2026 Preview: Big Casting Changes, Sarah-Brady-Xander Triangle, and More

“When I came out of surgery, I had lost so much blood that I needed blood transfusions. And my stepdad told me, ‘You have endometriosis and this is what that means.’ And that was the first time I had ever even heard that word,” she said.

Following her diagnosis, Mansi said she researched endometriosis and how best to manage it. She also froze her eggs years later. “I have been lucky enough to have it be much more stable now,” she shared.

Mansi is now bringing her experiences to the screen. An upcoming episode of General Hospital, airing on March 16, will feature a storyline about endometriosis.

“As someone who’s been in this industry for a while, I’ve never even read a script in my life to this day, apart from here, that even mentioned endometriosis,” said Mansi, who will direct the episode. “So I was so proud of ABC and [executive producer] Frank Valentini and the writers for telling this story. I was so honored and it should be something that is represented more.”