Actor Eric Dane got real about what it’s like to live with ALS, and candidly discussed on Tuesday the range of emotional and physical repercussions of the devastating diagnosis.
The “Euphoria” actor and “Gray’s Anatomy” alum did not shy away from any aspect of the disease as he spoke on a panel hosted by the advocacy organization I am ALS on Giving Tuesday. He became a spokesperson for the nonprofit following his diagnosis with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which he announced in April.
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ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, depletes and destroys the motor neurons — nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movements. When they stop telling the muscles what to do, the muscles stop working. It is a terminal diagnosis.
“I have no reason to be in a good spirit at any time, on any given day,” Dane told viewers during the virtual panel. “I don’t think anybody would blame me if I went upstairs in my bedroom, crawled under the sheets, and spent the next two weeks crying.”
Instead, Dane has made a surprising discovery.
Losing the use of his right arm, missing his Emmys “Grey’s Anatomy” reunion due to a hospital run, and navigating the complicated relationship with near-ex Rebecca Gayheart for the sake of their children, has shown him a resilience he didn’t know he had.
“I was a little bit pleasantly surprised when I realized that I wasn’t built like that, because I thought for sure that was gonna be me,” Dane said of his unmaterialized weep-fest. “It’s encouraging for me to know that I actually can have a buoyant spirit in the face of something so horrible.”
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He has even returned to acting. In his first role since announcing the diagnosis, Dane played a fireman on the medical drama “Brilliant Minds” who is struggling to tell his family he has ALS. The episode aired on Nov. 24.
It was a physical and emotional challenge, from saying his lines to portraying someone going through the same thing he is, something he’d never done before. But that made the scene so powerful that cast and crew gave him a 10-minute standing ovation after he filmed it.
Dane plans to continue, taking only “ALS-centric parts,” he said, noting that he is grateful he can still work.
“I’m fairly limited in what I can do physically as an actor, but I still have my brain, and I still have my speech,” Dane said.
Beyond that, he simply wants to educate people about the disease.
“I think it’s imperative that I share my journey with as many people as I can, because I don’t feel like my life is about me anymore,” the actor said. “I want to make sure that people are aware of what ALS is and, more importantly, what we can do to combat it and improve the landscape.”
With News Wire Services