In August, General Hospital sent a comatose Maxie off to a long-term care facility in Boston as Kirsten Storms (Maxie) began an extended break from the show to facilitate a move to Nashville with her daughter, Harper Rose Barash. Now, in a very personal new post on Instagram, Storms opened up about the real-life health battle that prompted her decision to leave Los Angeles.

A Change Is Gonna Come

Stoms’s post came on the heels of her announcement that she and real-life best friend, former co-star and fellow knitting and crocheting aficianado Emme Rylan (ex-Lulu) had begun a new business venture, Kirsten and Emme, where they sell crocheted sweaters that they’ve designed together. She paid homage to Rylan as she disclosed that she is scheduled to undergo brain surgery in the coming weeks. Back in 2021, Storms underwent an operation called a craniotomy to drain and remove noncancerous cysts on her brain.

“Fun fact (not really ‘fun,’ but Emme and I like to find humor in uncomfortable situations…)” Storms’s post began. “In January (2025), I had a new scan done of my brain. After my surgery in 2021, my *amazing* neurosurgeon (who ‘humors’ the jokes I make during my appointments — which is okay because he’s very smart) has been monitoring the cyst that he left on my brain, when he removed one that was causing me problems. The January scan happened because I had symptoms that the doctors thought could’ve been brain-related. OK — when I say that I was shocked when the doctors told me they found an aneurysm on the right side of my brain… welp, I basically launched into a standup comedy routine.

“I had a procedure done that weekend, where the doctor thread a camera from my leg up to my brain,” she continued. “(It’s a routine procedure,  but the path inside your body that they lead the camera through is *insane*… THE CAMERA GOES THROUGH YOUR ARMPIT, guys. Your. Armpit.) Anyway, because of the *slightly* complex situation with the aneurysm (nothing bad, just not typical), it wasn’t coiled that weekend. I checked in with my super smart surgeon, completed my next few months at work, started my hiatus, and left California. Did you guys know that Emme was by my side every single day during my 2021 craniotomy and hospital recovery? I remember waking up in the ICU right after my procedure, and the first thing she said was ‘How are you?? DO YOU STILL LOVE YARN?’ My neurosurgeon did give a chuckle to that joke. Anyway, Neurology stuff makes me feel a bit of nervousness, so now—here I am with Emme, in St Louis. And we are crocheting the most beautiful sweaters, while my coiling procedure is being scheduled for sometime in the next 2 weeks.”

The actress further opened up about how her health issues connected with her decision to relocate to Tennessee and take a break from her role as Maxie, which she has played since 2005.

“Emotional support, when going through times in life that cause worry, is crucial,” Storms shared. “Aneurysms (obviously) can be caused by stress. Brain cysts? I believe that is possible too…. and since the January scan showed a new, but very small, squatter (aka cyst) on my brain stem — it was clear I needed to change some things in my life asap. For my own personal reasons, no longer living in Los Angeles was very important to me. The biggest reason for the move was Harper, but a lot of it was for my physical and mental health. And my overall happiness.”

Storms went on to pay tribute both to the healing properties of crocheting and to Rylan for her steadfast support. She wrote, “Did you know (if you’re still reading this egregiously long post) that even though crocheting isn’t ‘technically’ a cognitive behavioral therapy exercise, it hits all of the requirements CBT exercises do? It’s meditative, your hands and brain are focusing on the same task, therefore it distracts you from feelings of stress or anxiety, and completing a project feels rewarding. This sweater collaboration with my best friend, who is as obsessed with yarn as I am and constantly shows me that she always has my back… it kinda feels like we were meant to do this,” she mused. “Emme, this will definitely make you so uncomfortable that you’re going to comment below with something funny, but creating these sweaters with you has been so much fun. I love you. You’re my ‘ride or die, but no ride to the airport.’ And (hypothetically) I will totally (HYPOTHETICALLY) be by your side, keying the cars of all the boys who would be stupid enough to mess with our daughters.”

In the caption introducing her carousel of text posts, Storms explained, “I wanted to post this because even though my brain seems to be sorta lowkey rebelling against me, it does allow me to understand that we’ve all got times when things aren’t great. If we can, we will do our best to do what is best for ourselves and loved ones. Since I knew what an aneurysm was, the scan in January majorly freaked me out. A few days after I was discharged from the hospital, someone created a blog post that said I was in the hospital that weekend because I tried to ‘unalive’ myself. I couldn’t understand why a person would make up something that terrible when they had no idea why I was really there. There are a few really bad apples out there. We all know that… but there are people in my life who I am truly thankful to know. One of those individuals just made a sh*t load of sweaters with me. They are glorious.”