“Grey’s Anatomy” star Eric Dane went to Washington, D.C., earlier this month to lobby members of Congress to support federal funding for research and access to treatment for thousands of people like himself who are living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an incurable and progressive and fatal neurodegenerative condition.
One stop for the San Francisco-born actor on Capitol Hill was the office of Congressman Eric Swalwell, D-Castro Valley, as Swalwell shared on TikTok this week.
Dane, 52, announced in April that he had been diagnosed with ALS and appeared on ABC’s TV news show “Good Morning America” in June to say that he was “fighting” to stay healthy and active as long as he can. But as the San Mateo High graduate has emerged as a new public face of people living with this disease, he also revealed that he had lost the use of his right arm and would soon lose the use of his left. On Tuesday, the Daily Mail published video of Dane arriving at the airport in Washington, D.C., using a wheelchair.
During the meeting in Swalwell’s office, the actor, who played handsome, strapping Dr. Mark Sloan on the long-running ABC medical drama, mostly remained seated and spoke slowly and carefully as he said, “ALS is the last thing you want to diagnose anyone with.”
“I’m going to ring every bell,” Dane continued. “I have two daughters at home. I want to see them, you know, graduate college, get married, maybe have grandkids. I want to be there for all that. So, I’m going to fight to the last breath on this one.”
Swalwell replied, “We’re all in it with you,” either before or after he joined Dane is standing for a photo op.
Dane, who more recently starred on the HBO drama “Euphoria,” is working with I AM ALS, a grassroots, community-led nonprofit that advocates for people with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The organization is in the midst of a three-year “Push for Progress” campaign to secure more than $1 billion in federal funding to accelerate ALS research and access to treatment.
Dane and other I AM ALS members were in Washington to seek reauthorization of Act for ALS, a 2021 law signed by President Joe Biden that requires the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Drug Administration to award grants and contracts to public and private entities researching drugs that can treat ALS or even cure the disease.
In addition to there being no cure, there also are no effective treatments to stop the disease’s progression. ALS “is a guaranteed killer” that “works fast,” causing progressive muscle paralysis that leaves patients unable to speak, eat, walk or breathe independently, according to I AM ALS. Those with the disease have a life expectancy of two to five years after the first symptoms appear.
During Dane’s meeting with Swalwell, he said that he and other ALS activists expected “broad bipartisan support” to reauthorize Act for ALS, which expires in 2026. For his part, Swalwell assured Dane that he had his support. “I told you I would do everything I could to help and I mean it.”
In terms of bipartisan support, Dane’s Washington visit also involved meetings with John Curtis and Lisa Murkowski, Republican senators from Utah and Alaska, respectively, and Tammy Baldwin, the Democratic senator from Wisconsin, and Mike Quigley, a Democratic representative from Chicago.
Dane’s visit came amid a growing bitter partisan deadlock between Democrats in Congress and President Trump over federal government spending, leading to this week’s government shutdown. On social media, Swalwell called it a “Republican shutdown,” given that the Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress.
It doesn’t appear that Dane will let such fierce partisan divides in Washington deter his advocacy, as he uses his fame as a TV actor to share his story about living with ALS and the dire consequences he faces.
“I’m Eric, an actor, a father and now person living with ALS,” Dane said in a video posted to his Instagram on Sept. 15. Dane shares two daughters, 15 and 13, with actor Rebecca Gayheart. He and Gayheart are separated but remain on good terms as he struggles with his disease.
“For over a century, ALS has been incurable, and we’re done accepting the status quo,” Dane continued in the video. “We need the fastest path to a cure and that’s why I partnered with I AM ALS on the Push for Progress.”
Dane explained the $1 billion fundraising goal and said that renewing the federal Act for ALS law would get “promising treatments to thousands of people like me and finally, finally push toward ending this disease.”
When appearing on “Good Morning America,” Dane told Diane Sawyer: “There’s so much about it that’s out of my control.”
Dane said that his symptoms began more than a year ago, when he experienced weakness in his right hand. The weakness got worse, and he saw two hand specialists and then a couple of neurologists before he received his ALS diagnosis.
“I’ll never forget those three letters,” he told Sawyer of the diagnosis.