Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Robin L Marshall
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Health, Eric Dane
Callum Jones
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Health, Eric Dane
The wife of Grey's Anatomy star Eric Dane has provided a heartbreaking admission about her family after the actor's ALS diagnosis.
Back in April, Dane confirmed he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative health condition that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord and gets worse over time, according to the Mayo Clinic.
"I have been diagnosed with ALS. I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter," the actor told People.
ALS affects muscle control which starts small, like twitching and weakness in an arm or leg, or difficulty swallowing or speaking, before slowly affecting the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breathe over time.
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The disease is fatal and has no cure with people living three to five years after diagnosis, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
As cited by the Mirror, Rebecca Gayheart, Dane's wife, revealed at Step Up's 2025 Inspiration Awards that she and the couple's two children - Billie, 15, and 13-year-old Georgia - are 'trying to get through it' and are adjusting to the 'new normal' in life.
Rebecca added: "We have some professional therapists who are helping us, and we're just trying to have some hope and do it with dignity, grace and love. I mean, it's heartbreaking. My girls are really suffering, and we're just trying to get through it. It's a tough time."
Back in June, Dane spoke on Good Morning America, and revealed the first signs that made him concerned for his own health.
"I started experiencing some weakness in my right hand and I didn’t really think anything of it at the time," he said.
The 52-year-old added: “I thought maybe I had been texting too much or my hand was fatigued.
“But a few weeks later I noticed it had gotten a little worse so I went and saw a hand specialist and he sent me to another hand specialist.
“I went and saw a neurologist and they sent me to another neurologist and said this is way above [his] pay grade.”
Speaking a year on from the first symptoms, Dane added: “I have one functioning arm, my dominant side is [my right], my left side is functioning, my right side is completely stopped working.
“My left arm is going, I feel like a couple few more months and I wont have my left either, it is sobering.”