“I will never forget those three letters. It’s on me the second I wake up,” the Grey’s Anatomy alum said in his first interview since being diagnosed with the disease. “It’s not a dream.”
Eric Dane is opening up about a terrifying moment where his teenage daughter was forced to step in and save his life during a family trip amid his ongoing battle with ALS.
In a raw and heartfelt interview with Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America Monday, J the Euphoria actor, 52, recalled a harrowing incident while on a boat outing with his 13-year-old daughter, Georgia.
“When I jumped into the ocean that day and realized I couldn’t swim and generate enough power to get myself back to the boat. I thought, ‘Oh God,'” Dane shared. “And I realized in that moment I’m not safe in the water anymore.”
Dane, who revealed in April that he has been diagnosed with ALS, often called Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells controlling voluntary muscle movement, said his daughter immediately jumped into action.
“[My daughter] dragged me back to the boat. I was breaking down in tears,” he said, getting emotional. “So I made sure she got back in the water with her friend and continued on with the snorkeling with the guide. But I was just heartbroken.”
The actor shares daughters Georgia, 13, and Billie, 15, with actress Rebecca Gayheart. The couple, who wed in 2004, separated in 2018 but have since called off their divorce. Dane shared during the interview that despite their past challenges, “We have managed to become better friends and better parents.”
Dane first publicly revealed his diagnosis that same month, releasing a statement that read: “I have been diagnosed with ALS. I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter. I feel fortunate that I am able to continue working and am looking forward to returning to set of Euphoria next week. I kindly ask that you give my family and I privacy during this time.”
The diagnosis, which followed nearly a year of tests and evaluations, came after Dane began noticing troubling symptoms.
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“I started experiencing some weakness in my right hand,” the Grey’s Anatomy alum explained to Sawyer. “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.”
But the weakness progressed. “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.'”
Eventually, Dane heard the three letters that would change everything: “ALS.”
“I will never forget those three letters. It’s on me the second I wake up,” he said. “It’s not a dream.”
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He also opened up about the toll the disease has taken on his body.
“I have one functioning arm. … My left side is functioning. My right side, [which is my dominant side], has completely stopped working,” Dane shared. “My left arm is going. I feel like maybe a couple, a few more months and I won’t have my left. … I’m worried about my legs.”
As the reality of his condition continues to sink in, Dane admits he’s struggling with the emotional weight of it all.
“I’m angry because my father was taken from me when I was young,” Dane said. “And now there’s a very good chance that I’ll be taken from my girls when they’re very young.”
“At the end of the day,” he added, “all I want is to just spend time with my family and work a little bit if I can.”
