Eric Dane has 'one functioning arm' amid ALS battle
Eric Dane has lost the function in his right arm and is concerned about his other limbs amid his battle with ALS.
Eric Dane has lost the function of his right arm.
The 52-year-old actor announced in April that he is battling incurable degenerative condition ALS - which is formally known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and impacts the nervous system and causes muscle paralysis - and he's revealed that he is "worried" about losing control of his other limbs as the disease progresses.
He told Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America: “I have one functioning arm. … My left side is functioning. My right side, [which is my dominant side], has completely stopped working.
"[My left arm] is going. I feel like maybe a couple, a few more months and I won’t have my left. … I’m worried about my legs.”
The former Grey's Anatomy star initially attributed his first symptoms to "texting too much" on his phone.
He recalled: “I started experiencing some weakness in my right hand. And I didn’t really think anything of it at the time, I thought maybe I’d been texting too much and my hand was fatigued.
“A few weeks later, I noticed it’d gotten a little worse. 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.’”
After nine months, he received his diagnosis.
He said: “I will never forget those three letters, [ALS]. It’s on me the second I wake up. It’s not a dream.”
Eric - who has daughters Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13, with wife Rebecca Gayheart - was once a competitive swimmer but he recently realised he is no longer "safe in the water" after one of his kids had to rescue him.
He said: "When I jumped in the ocean that day and realised I couldn't swim [or] generate enough power to get myself back to the boat, I thought, 'Oh, God.' "And then I realised in that moment I'm not safe in the water anymore."
Diane explained in a voiceover that Eric's daughter had to rescue him.
He said: "She dragged me back in the boat...
"I was like breaking down in tears, so I made sure she got back in the water with her friend and continued on with the snorkeling with the guide. But I was just heartbroken."
