ALS has robbed Eric Dane (pic) of functioning in his right arm and is creeping through his left, the actor said in an emotional interview about the diagnosis he revealed in April.
The symptoms began rather subtly about a year and a half ago, the Euphoria and Grey’s Anatomy star told Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America in an interview that aired Monday morning. He is looking to raise awareness about the disease.
“I started experiencing some weakness in my right hand,” said Dane, 52. “And I didn’t really think anything of it at the time. I thought maybe I’d been texting too much, and my hand was fatigued.”
It didn’t go away, however, leading to a string of specialist visits that culminated nine months later with a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease for the Yankees Hall of Fame player who died of it in 1941.
“A few weeks later I noticed it had gotten a little worse,” Dane recounted. “So I went and saw a hand specialist, who sent me to another hand specialist. I went and saw a neurologist, and the neurologist sent me to another neurologist, who said, ‘This is way above my pay grade.’ ”
Now, his right arm has “completely stopped working,” the actor said. “I feel like maybe a couple more months and I won’t have my left hand either.”
The letters ALS are burned into Dane’s brain.
“I will never forget those three letters,” the veteran actor told Sawyer. “It’s on me the second I wake up.”
The rare motor neuron disease affects nerve cells, weakening the muscles and leading to paralysis that eventually extends to the muscles that control speaking, eating and breathing, the Mayo Clinic explains.
Dane is weathering this storm with the help of his wife, actress Rebecca Gayheart, and their daughters Billie Beatrice, 15, and Georgia Geraldine, 13.
He said the diagnosis really hit home a few months ago during a boat trip with one of his daughters, when he jumped into ocean and realised he couldn’t make it back to the boat on his own.
“I realised in that moment, I’m not safe in the water anymore,” he said.
His daughter dragged him back, and he made sure she returned to the water to finish her snorkeling session with the guide. “But I was just heartbroken.”
Nonetheless, Dane is determined to keep working as long as he is able.
“I don’t think this is the end of my story,” he told Sawyer. “In my heart I just don’t feel like this is the end of me. I’m fighting as much as I can.”
At the same time, he allowed, “There’s so much about it that’s out of my control.” – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
