Former Grey’s Anatomy star Eric Dane has opened up about his struggle with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) after revealing his diagnosis in April.
In an interview with Good Morning America’s Diane Sawyer on Monday, the actor, who rose to fame playing Dr. Mark Sloan (“McSteamy”) on Grey’s Anatomy, said his symptoms began over a year ago with weakness in his right hand and have continued to progress since then.
“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 then revealed he had since lost function on his right arm and was fearful about what comes next.
“I feel like maybe a couple, few more months, and I won’t have my left hand [functioning] either,” he told Sawyer, expressing concern about also losing feeling in his legs. “Sobering,” he added.
ALS is a degenerative neurological disorder that worsens over time, damaging motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. This leads to muscle weakness, paralysis, and eventually the loss of movement, speech, and breathing ability.
Dane said the moment he received the diagnosis will stay with him forever. “I’ll never forget those three letters,” he said before revealing that the weight of his diagnosis hits him every morning.
“I wake up every day and I’m immediately reminded that this is happening,” Dane told Sawyer. “It’s not a dream.”
Dane, who says he currently only has “one functioning arm,” grew emotional about the possibility of not watching his two teenage daughters grow up. “I’m angry because my father was taken from me when I was young, and now there’s a very good chance I’m going to be taken from my girls when they’re very young,” he said.
His worries mounted during a recent family outing, when he needed to be rescued from a body of water after finding himself without the energy to keep himself afloat.
“She dragged me back to the boat,” Dane said of his daughter. “I was like, breaking down in tears. I made sure she got back to the water with her friend and continued on with the snorkeling. I was just heartbroken.”
Despite the setbacks, Dane said he is determined to keep living his life to the fullest and has the full support of his family.
“In my heart, I don’t feel like this is the end for me,” Dane said. “I’m fighting as much as I can. There’s so much about it that’s out of my control.”
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