Eric Dane opened up about his recent ALS diagnosis on “Good Morning America,” telling Diane Sawyer in an emotional interview that he now only has “one functioning arm.”
“My left side is functioning, my right side has completely stopped working,” he said, noting that his left arm has been getting weaker as well. “I feel like maybe a couple more months and I won’t have my left hand either. It’s sobering.”
The 52-year-old “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Euphoria” star was diagnosed in April after nine months of testing. He first started having symptoms a year and a half ago when he began to experience weakness in his right hand.
“I didn’t really think anything of it at the time,” Dane told Sawyer. “I thought maybe I’d been texting too much or my hand was fatigued, but a few weeks later I noticed it got a little worse. 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 and said, ‘This is way above my pay grade.’”
ALS is a fatal, progressive degenerative disease that breaks down the nerves in the body, weakening muscles and causing eventual paralysis, impacting patients’ ability to breathe, speak and move. There is no known cure.
“I will never forget those three letters,” Dane said. “It’s on me the second I wake up. It’s not a dream.”
Dane teared up when speaking about the support of his wife, Rebecca Gayheart, with whom he has two daughters. “We have managed to become better friends and better parents,” he said. “She is probably my biggest champion and my most stalwart supporter, and I lean on her.”
Though Dane can still walk, he is now worried about the functionality in his legs, recounting a scary experience snorkeling with his daughter where he realized he didn’t have enough energy to swim. His daughter had to rescue him out of the water.
“She dragged me back to the boat,” Dane said. “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 heart broken.”
The actor, who is returning to “Euphoria” Season 3 despite the diagnosis, was adamant that this isn’t the end of his story.
“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.”
He added that he is “very” angry about the diagnosis since he lost his father when he was just 7 years old to suicide. “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,” Dane said.
Along with “Euphoria,” Dane also stars in the Amazon Prime Video series “Countdown,” premiering on June 25. In a recent interview with Variety, Dane said he is still “ready and willing to do just about anything” in the acting world.
“But I have limitations that I understand will preclude me from playing certain roles,” he added. “I’m working on ‘Euphoria.’ I finished ‘Countdown.’ As far as that goes, I’m pretty capable.”
Watch Dane’s full “Good Morning America” interview below.
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