Eric Dane is continuing to open up about his ALS battle and diagnosis, with his doctor sharing new insight into the actor’s health journey.
In a continuation of his sit-down with Diane Sawyer, Dane and Dr. Merit Cudkowicz were featured on the Tuesday, June 17, episode of Good Morning America. Dane, 52, noted that one of the reasons he wanted to work with Cudkowicz is because she made him feel somewhat optimistic when other medical professionals hadn’t.
“That’s what I got from Merit when I met her, was that there was a sense of hope,” he explained. “I didn’t get that from other doctors that I met with.”
While ALS is incurable, Cudkowicz explained that “there’s a lot to do” that can slow down the progression and symptoms. Dane is taking medication for his symptoms and is participating in a research study. “I will fly to Germany and eat the head off a rattlesnake if you told me that that would help,” he told Sawyer.
Cudkowicz went on to note that ALS diagnoses are on the rise and are expected to increase in the future due to both the aging population and a number of possible factors that could be causing the disease. She pointed to the effects of plastics and certain lake bacteria as two possible reasons that there has been a “moderately fast” increase in ALS diagnoses in recent years.
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Dane, for his part, said he’s trying to stay positive amid his health challenge. “I’m very hopeful. I don’t think this is the end of my story. I’m pretty resilient,” he declared. “I just don’t feel like in my heart that this is the end of me.”
Sawyer, 79, teased more to come with Dane following his emotional appearance on the Monday, June 16, broadcast of the morning show. Praising Dane as “extraordinary,” Sawyer admitted she was “startled” by what his doctor had to say about the rise of ALS “and all the everyday things in our lives that could be contributing to it.”
Dane’s segment on Monday marked his first interview since revealing his ALS diagnosis in April. He spoke candidly about when he began experiencing symptoms of the degenerative neurological disorder, starting with a sensation of “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 and my hand was fatigued,” he recalled. “A few weeks later, I noticed it’d gotten a little worse. 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.’”
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After nine months, Dane was officially diagnosed. “I’ll never forget those three letters,” he said.
Dane further revealed that he’d lost function of his right arm. “I feel like maybe a couple, few more months, and I won’t have my left hand [functioning] either,” he said, noting that he’s concerned his legs might be next.
As he continues to grapple with his diagnosis, Dane is leaning on loved ones for support, including wife Rebecca Gayheart and their two daughters, Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13.
“I’m angry because, you know, 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 while they’re very young,” he said. “At the end of the day, all I want to do is spend time with my family and work a little bit if I can. … They’re loved. They know it.”
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The Grey’s Anatomy alum previously praised his family for their support upon announcing his health battle. “I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter,” he noted in a statement to People, adding that he was “fortunate” to continue working on Euphoria and other projects. “I kindly ask that you give my family and I privacy during this time.”
Dane and Gayheart, 53, tied the knot in 2004. She filed for divorce in 2018 after 14 years of marriage. One month before Dane’s diagnosis made headlines, Us Weekly confirmed that Gayheart had requested to dismiss her divorce petition.
“We are best of friends. We are really close. We are great coparents,” she told E! News in April. “We really figured out the formula to staying a family and I think our kids are benefiting greatly from it and we are as well.”
She continued: “I think it’s important to not look at a relationship that ends as a failure. It’s just a season. It wasn’t a failure. It was a huge success. We were married for — I mean, we are still married — but together for 15 years and we had two beautiful kids, so I think that’s a successful relationship, and that’s how we look at it.”
