Former “Grey’s Anatomy” star Eric Dane is speaking out for the first time in a television interview about his battle with ALS, a degenerative neurological disorder.
“I wake up every day and I’m immediately reminded that this is happening,” Dane, 52, said in an interview with Diane Sawyer that aired Monday on “Good Morning America.” “It’s not a dream.”
Just a few months after first revealing his ALS diagnosis publicly in April, Dane said he has lost function of his right arm and worries about what’s next.
“I feel like maybe a couple, few more months, and I won’t have my left hand (functioning) either,” Dane told Sawyer, adding that he’s worried about the loss of his legs too. “Sobering.”
ALS, short for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a degenerative neurological disorder where the symptoms worsen over time, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The NIH notes that ALS causes motor neurons, a type of nerve cell in the brain and spinal cord to deteriorate, causing the muscles to progressively weaken and eventually leads to paralysis, taking away a person’s ability to move, speak or even breathe.
Dane — who shot to fame amid six seasons on the hit ABC drama “Grey’s Anatomy,” where he played Dr. Mark Sloan, affectionately known as “McSteamy” — said his symptoms began over one year ago, when he began to experience weakness in his right hand.
“I didn’t really think anything of it at the time. I thought maybe I’d been texting too much or my hand was fatigued,” he recalled. “But a few weeks later, I noticed it had gotten a little worse, so I went and saw a hand specialist, who sent me to another hand specialist.”
Dane, a father of two teenage daughters, said he was then sent to two different neurologists before he received the diagnosis of ALS.
“I’ll never forget those three letters,” he said of the diagnosis.
Dane said the full weight of the effects of ALS grasped him just a few months ago when he went on a boat trip with his 13-year-old daughter. Once a competitive swimmer and a water polo star, Dane said he jumped in the ocean with his daughter only to realize he didn’t have the strength to swim.
“She dragged me back to the boat,” Dane said of his daughter, adding that he broke down in tears on the boat. “I was just, I was, like, heartbroken.”
Dane shares his 13 and 15-year-old daughters with actress Rebecca Gayheart, whom he married in October 2004. Though the couple once separated in their marriage, Dane said Gayheart is now his “biggest champion.”
“I talk to her every day,” he said. “We have managed to become better friends and better parents. And she is … probably my biggest champion and my most stalwart supporter. And I lean on her.”
After losing his own father to suicide when he was just 7-years-old, Dane said he is “angry” that ALS may also take him from his daughters too soon.
“I’m angry because, you know, my father was taken from me when I was young,” he said. “And now, you know, there’s a very good chance I’m going to be taken from my girls while they’re very young.”
Dane said he is focused on his family and continuing the work he loves for as long as he is able.
Most recently, Dane portrayed Cal Jacobs, the head of the Jacobs family, on “Euphoria.” He is also starring in an upcoming series on Amazon Prime Video, a police thriller titled “Countdown.”
The average prognosis for ALS patients is an average of two to five years of survival from the time of first symptoms, but there is a range, according to the NIH.
There is currently no known cure for ALS but some treatments, including FDA-approved medications and physical and speech therapies, may slow down the progression of the disorder and improve an ALS patient’s quality of life.
“I mean, I really, at the end of the day, just, all I want to do is spend time with my family and work a little bit if I can,” he said, later telling Sawyer, “I don’t think this is the end of my story. I just don’t feel like, in my heart, I don’t feel like this is the end of me.*
Tune into “Good Morning America” on Tuesday, June 17, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. EDT, for more of Diane Sawyer’s interview with Eric Dane.
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