‘I Had Lost So Much Blood’: General Hospital’s Kate Mansi Tells All About the Surgery That Saved Her Life
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Molly has had a rough time as of late and during March’s Endometriosis Awareness Month, General Hospital viewers have been taken on a journey of how painful endometriosis can be — and it’s a very real condition that affects millions of women around the globe. The actress who plays her onscreen sister, Kate Mansi (Kristina), knows all too well how insufferable the disease can be.
So, what is endometriosis? The chronic condition is caused when tissue similar to the uterus lining (endometrium) grows outside the uterus and Mansi has been suffering from this for years. In fact, it wasn’t until she underwent a lifesaving surgery when it was discovered by her stepfather. The ABC soap fave opened up to People and recalled how at first she ignored the severe pain, heavy bleeding, nausea and distended stomach, despite never have experienced abnormal periods or cramping in the past, and how doctors kept dismissing it.
Like most of us tend to do, she listened to her doctors — that is until the pain got so bad while taping scenes that she drove herself to the hospital. Mansi’s stepfather, an OB-GYN, met her there and discovered she had an 11-centimeter mass in her abdomen. That’s when he advocated for an immediate surgery. Believing she wasn’t going to make it, and not wanting to wait for an oncologist, he scrubbed in and performed the lifesaving surgery, where it was revealed that an ovarian cyst had been rupturing.
“When I came out of surgery, I had lost so much blood that I needed blood transfusions,” she shared with the outlet then went on to explain. “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.”
Since then, she has done immense research on the disease, went through the process of freezing her eggs and praised her husband Matt McInnis, who is her first partner to have taken endometriosis seriously. And Mansi even directed the upcoming March 16 General Hospital episode, where Molly will experience a flare-up and opens up to Cody about her condition.
We commend Mansi for sharing her story and in turn letting others know they are not alone. To learn more about the disease, visit The Endometriosis Foundation of America.
