Eric Dane issues major ALS battle update as he promises fans 'I'm fighting as much as I can'
Eric Dane has given a huge update on his battle with incurable degenerative neurological disorder, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
'I'm fighting as much as I can,' the 52-year-old Grey's Anatomy alum told Good Morning America 's Diane Sawyer on Tuesday. 'There's so much about it that's out of my control.'
Eric is currently taking medication to slow the symptoms and he's also participating in a research study.
'I will fly to Germany and eat the head off a rattlesnake if [doctors] told me that that would help,' Dane stressed. 'I'll assume the risk.'
The SAG Award winner was joined by his neurologist Dr. Merit Cudkowicz, who admitted: 'It's a hard diagnosis to hear, but I want [patients] to hear that there's hope. I never want anyone to hear that there's nothing to do because there's a lot to do.'
'That's what I got from Merit when I met her. There was a sense of hope I didn't get from other doctors that I met with,' Eric noted, adding prior doctors were just 'there to monitor my decline and that's not very helpful.'
There are currently 5K people diagnosed with ALS annually, according to the CDC.
'But those numbers are going up moderately fast,' the Chief of Neurology at Mass General warned.
'It's really predicted by, like, 2040 [that] the numbers of people with ALS in the world will be increased by about 40%.'
Dr. Cudkowicz listed off some of the ALS risk factors including plastics, bacteria in lakes, head trauma in sports, pesticides, military service, and 'there's many more we don't know about.'
'There's people all over the world working on this,' the Harvard Medical School professor encouraged.
'Between artificial intelligence and other imaging technology - to really be able to to subtype people - that's what gets me excited. That's all coming in the next, I think, one to two years, if not faster.'
Back in 2014, the viral ice-bucket challenge raised $200M for ALS research 'in the US alone and it was spent quickly.'
'I'm very hopeful, yeah, I don't think this is the end of my story. I'm pretty resilient,' Eric beamed.
'I just don't feel, like in my heart, [that] this is the end of me.'
Dane first experienced weakness in his right hand one year ago, but he 'thought maybe I'd been texting too much or my hand was fatigued' until a hand specialist eventually referred him to a neurologist.
'I will fly to Germany and eat the head off a rattlesnake if [doctors] told me that that would help,' Dane stressed. 'I'll assume the risk'
'That's what I got from Merit when I met her. There was a sense of hope I didn't get from other doctors that I met with,' Eric noted, adding prior doctors were just 'there to monitor my decline and that's not very helpful'
There are currently 5K people diagnosed with ALS annually, 'but those numbers are going up moderately fast,' the Chief of Neurology at Mass General warned
'I have one functioning arm. My left side is functioning. My right side, [which is my dominant side], has completely stopped working,' the San Francisco-born silver fox revealed Monday.
'[My left arm] is going. I feel like maybe a couple, a few more months and I won't have my left hand either. Sobering. I'm worried about my legs.'
Luckily, Eric has the love and support of his wife Rebecca Gayheart, who dismissed her divorce petition in March following seven years of estrangement, as well as their 15-year-old daughter Billie and 13-year-old daughter Georgia.
'I talk to her every day,' Dane emotionally said of the 53-year-old Jawbreaker alum.
'We have managed to become better friends and better parents. And she is probably my biggest champion and my most stalwart supporter. And I lean on her.'
On average, ALS patients live two to five years following their first symptoms, but FDA-approved medications and physical/speech therapies might slow down the progression of the disorder.
Audiences can next catch the Bad Boys: Ride or Die action star as Special Agent Nathan Blythe in Derek Haas' new 13-episode crime drama Countdown, which premieres June 25 on Amazon Prime Video.
On April 14, Eric began reprising his role as the closeted real estate agent Cal Jacobs in the third season of HBO hit show Euphoria produced by and starring Zendaya as Ruby 'Rue' Bennett.
Sam Levinson's drug-fueled drama will welcome newcomers Sharon Stone, Rosalía, Marshawn Lynch, and Kadeem Hardison in season three.
But Dane got his big break portraying plastic surgeon Mark 'McSteamy' Sloan from 2006–2012 on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy.
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