Featured Image Credit: ABC/GMA
Topics: Grey's Anatomy, TV And Film, Celebrity, Health
Rhiannon Ingle
Grey’s Anatomy star Eric Dane has bravely opened up about the first symptom he experienced before being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
It was announced earlier this year (10 April) that Dane, 52, was diagnosed with the rare degenerative disease, ALS - a type of motor neurone disease which causes muscle weakness in the arms and legs that can cause you to trip and drop things.
While symptoms of ALS differ from person to person, as it depends on which nerve cells are affected, ALS usually starts with muscle weakness that spreads and worsens as time goes on.
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According to the Mayo Clinic, other symptoms might include:
Dane, who starred on the hit ABC medical drama as Dr Mark Sloan, recently opened up about his ALS diagnosis on Good Morning America where he told Diane Sawyer that he now only has 'one functioning arm'.
"My left side is functioning, my right side has completely stopped working," the Euphoria star explained, noting that his left arm has been getting weaker as well.
"I feel like maybe a couple more months and I won’t have my left hand either.
"It’s sobering."
While he was first diagnosed with ALS in April, Dane first started having symptoms a year and a half ago when he began to experience weakness in his right hand.
Speaking to Sawyer during the interview, Dane recalled: "I didn’t really think anything of it at the time.
"I thought maybe I’d been texting too much or my hand was fatigued, but a few weeks later I noticed it got a little worse. So 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'."
"I will never forget those three letters," Dane said. "It’s on me the second I wake up. It’s not a dream."
The actor began to tear up when praising his wife, Rebecca Gayheart, with whom he shares two daughters.
"We have managed to become better friends and better parents," he gushed. "She is probably my biggest champion and my most stalwart supporter, and I lean on her."
While he still has the ability to walk, Dane also opened up about the concern surrounding the functionality in his legs, sharing a particularly alarming experience snorkelling with his daughter where he realised he didn’t have enough energy to swim, prompting his daughter to rescue him out the water.
"She dragged me back to the boat," Dane said. "I was like, breaking down in tears. I made sure she got back to the water with her friend and continued on with the snorkelling. I was just heart broken."
Despite his diagnosis, Dane will be returning for the upcoming third season of Euphoria.
"In my heart, I don’t feel like this is the end for me," he said. "I'm fighting as much as I can. There’s so much about it that’s out of my control."
Opening up about his personal life some more, Dane added that he is 'very' angry about the diagnosis due to losing his own father when he was just seven years old to suicide.
"I’m angry because my father was taken from me when I was young, and now there’s a very good chance I’m going to be taken from my girls when they’re very young," he added.