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.
