Eric Dane discusses living with ALS, what keeps him buoyant
Actor Eric Dane came to grips with what it’s like to live with ALS and spoke candidly Tuesday about the range of emotional and physical tolls of the devastating diagnosis.
The Euphoria actor and Grey’s Anatomy alumnus didn’t shy away from any aspect of the disease when speaking on a panel hosted by advocacy organization I am ALS on Giving Tuesday. He became a spokesperson for the nonprofit organization following his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, announced in April.
ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, depletes and destroys motor neurons, nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movements. When they stop telling the muscles what to do, they stop working. It is a terminal diagnosis.
“I have no reason to be in a good mood at any time, any day,” Dane told viewers during the virtual panel. “I don’t think anyone would blame me if I went up to my room, crawled under the sheets and spent the next two weeks crying.”
Instead, Dane made a surprising discovery.
Losing the use of his right arm, missing his “Grey’s Anatomy” Emmys reunion due to a hospital run and navigating the complicated relationship with his close ex Rebecca Gayheart for the sake of their children, showed him a resilience he didn’t know he had.
“I was a little pleasantly surprised when I realized I wasn’t built like that, because I thought for sure it would be me,” Dane said of his unmaterialized cry fest. “It’s encouraging to me to know that I can actually have an optimistic spirit in the face of something so horrible.”
He even returned to acting. In his first role since his diagnosis, Dane played a firefighter on the medical series “Brilliant Minds” who struggles to tell his family that he has ALS. The episode aired on November 24.
It was a physical and emotional challenge, whether it was saying his lines or portraying someone going through the same thing as him, something he had never done before. But it made the scene so powerful that the cast and crew gave it a 10-minute standing ovation after filming it.
Dane plans to continue, taking only “ALS-centric pieces,” he said, noting that he is grateful to still be able to work.
“I’m pretty limited in what I can do physically as an actor, but I still have my brain and my speech,” Dane said.
Beyond that, he simply wants to raise awareness about the disease.
“I think it’s imperative that I share my journey with as many people as possible, because I no longer feel like my life revolves around me anymore,” the actor said. “I want to make sure people know what ALS is and, more importantly, what we can do to fight it and improve the landscape.” »
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