Shonda Rhimes has killed off a lot of characters on Grey’s Anatomy, including McSteamy from a plane crash.
However, none of those actors had passed away in real life until now, sadly. On February 19th, Eric Dane lost his battle with ALS.
So, yesterday, the medical soap memorialized him with a video that will leave you crying. It was a beautiful goodbye to someone who made a difference by showing us strength as he fought an ugly disease, and with his last words.
Back in November, Eric Dane sat down with producer Brad Falchuk and recorded what will be his Famous Last Words. Because three months later, the actor lost his battle with ALS.
ALS took a lot of things from Dane, but not his spirit. So, as he struggled to talk because the disease had quickly paralyzed his whole body, he revealed he was happy and at peace living in the present.
That is what he told his daughters: live in the present. Don’t hold onto past regrets.
He also told them to find something they love to do. Something that makes them want to get out of bed in the morning. It should not define you, but it gives you something to excite you.
Friends, make good friends who are there for you no matter what. They won’t judge you, but they will be there when you need them most.
And finally, fight! Never give up. Fight until your breath, like he did.
Sounds simple, and it should be. Even though those words were meant for Billy and Georgia, they can be there for us too because last words are a person’s wisest. And wise those words were.
Before Eric Dane was saving lives on Grey’s Anatomy, he needed someone to save his life on Silk Stalkings. How handsome was the 23-year-old in that 1996 episode?
Earlier this week, Eric Dane and I Am ALS spoke to Congress and asked them to extend federal funding for the Accelerating Access for Critical Therapies for ALS Act, which is set to expire next September.
The actor was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease in 2024, and it is quickly taking over his body. Therefore, the continuation of research funding is important to him. Thus, he is the ideal person to persuade Congress to continue supporting the funds.
However, that decision is on hold due to the government shutdown.
While Dane was in Washington, D.C., he spoke with The Washington Post. They asked him why he was a last-minute no-show at the Emmys last month.
He had a good excuse. He lost his balance in the kitchen and cut his head open. “ALS is a nasty disease. … So I was in the hospital during the Emmys getting stitches put in my head,” Dane told the newspaper. “I missed an opportunity I was really looking forward to. It would have been great to see Jesse and get reunited with some of my peers, and to be able to present in front of my colleagues I thought would have a been special moment. So I was really upset about it, but you know, there was nothing I could do about it.”
Hopefully, he will be around and able to make up for his absence at next year’s Emmys.
ALS is an awful disease. I pray that Congress listens to him and will continue to fund the research, so that this way doctors can come up with medicines that slow the progression and perhaps even develop a cure. If no one ever has to go through it again, that would be a significant medical breakthrough.
A few months ago, Eric Dane revealed that he has ALS, a disease that slowly paralyzes your whole body until eventually you die from it. It is an awful way to go because your body can’t move, but your mind is still working as it was before you were diagnosed.
Since his diagnosis, Dane has not done any interviews. Today, he opened up to Good Morning America’s Diane Sawyer about how his life has changed in the last year and a half when he started experiencing symptoms.
At first, his hand started to go numb. He went to a hand doctor, and then another one, who sent him to a neurologist, who sent him to another one. After nine months, he finally heard the three letters he never wanted to hear. He was told he has ALS.
Since then, he has lost the use of his right arm, which is his dominant side. For the time being, he has use of his left arm, but it is starting to go. And he is afraid that that arm will go in a few months.
But that is not what scares him most. It is leaving his daughters, Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13, without a father at a young age. The actor lost his father to suicide at 7, so he knows what it is like to grow up without one.
“I mean, I really, at the end of the day, just, all I want to do is spend time with my family and work a little bit if I can,” he said, later telling Sawyer, “I don’t think this is the end of my story. I just don’t feel like, in my heart, I don’t feel like this is the end of me.*
And it is not the end of his acting. He is filming season 3 of Euphoria and is starring in Prime Video’s Countdown, which premieres on the 25th.
