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.
Eric Dane shared a recent health diagnosis with People
. He told the magazine that he was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter.” The actor, 52, recently reunited with his estranged wife, Rebecca Gayheart, with whom he has two children, Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13.
“I feel fortunate that I am able to continue working and am looking forward to returning to set of Euphoria next week,” he told the mag. “I kindly ask that you give my family and I privacy during this time.”
Hopefully, he will get it because ALS is fucking awful. Basically, the person becomes a brain inside of a motionless shell.
I pray that his symptoms remain at bay for a while and he gets to live as productive of a life for as long as possible.
Last season, Grey’s Anatomy brought back several cast members, including Patrick Dempsey and Eric Dane. This season, we know they are bringing back Meredith’s late mother (Kate Burton) for a few episodes. She is not the only cast member who is checking back into Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.
According to Deadline,Kate Walsh is reprising her role as Addison Montgomery. Walsh left the show at the end of the third season to lead the spinoff Private Practice for six seasons.
We don’t know how long she will be on the medical drama, nor why she is back. But, I am sure all be answered soon enough.
All of these stars returning proves the show was at its best when it first started. Too bad they can’t recapture their golden days.
