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.
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.”
“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.”
Dane, a father of two teenage daughters with actress Rebecca Gayheart, said he was then sent to two different neurologists before he received the diagnosis of ALS.
After losing his own father to suicide when he was just seven, Dane said he is “angry” that ALS may also take him from his daughters — ages 13 and 15 — 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.
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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