'Grey's Anatomy' alum Eric Dane prepared to go to extreme measures to fight ALS

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4 hours ago

Eric Dane is prepared to go to extreme measures to fight ALS.
"I will fly to Germany and eat the head off a rattlesnake if [doctors] told me that that would help," the 52-year-old "Grey's Anatomy" alum told Diane Sawyer during a sit-down interview on "Good Morning America." "I'll assume the risk."
During the interview, which aired Tuesday, Dane opened up about the debilitating disease and explained how he's found hope in the physician who has been leading his care.
"I'm very hopeful... I don't think this is the end of my story," he said. "And whether it is or it isn't, I'm gonna carry that idea with me.
"That's what I got from [Dr. Merit Cudkowicz] when I met her... there was a sense of hope I didn't get from other doctors that I met with," Dane said of his doctor, a neurologist and leading ALS researcher.
Dane said that he had spoken previously with an organization that told him his doctors would be "there to... monitor my decline — and that's not very helpful."
Dr. Cudkowicz said the risk factors behind the disease can include anything from environmental concerns like plastics and bacteria in lakes to sports injuries.
"We worry about head trauma because we do see ALS more common in people in certain sports like football or soccer. We worry about pesticides as well. Being in the military is a risk factor," she said. "Those are the ones we know about, but there's many more we don't know about.
"There's people all over the world working on this," she said, referring to ALS research. "Between artificial intelligence and other imaging technology, that's what gets me excited, and that's all coming in the next, I think, one to two years, if not faster."
Dane, who revealed his diagnosis in April, said in another segment of the interview that aired Monday that he first started experiencing weakness in his right hand before seeking medical attention.
"I didn't really think anything of it at the time," he told Sawyer. "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.'
"I have one functioning arm," he said. "My left side is functioning. My right 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 hand either. It's sobering."
He said that for now, he is able to walk, but added, "I'm worried about my legs."
Dane admitted that he will "never forget" the moment he was diagnosed.
"I will never forget those three letters, [ALS]. It's on me the second I wake up," he said. "It's not a dream."
The actor, who shares two daughters, Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13, with wife Rebecca Gayheart, said he began noticing more of the effects of his disease a few months ago during a boating trip with his daughter.
After jumping into the water, Dane — a former competitive swimmer — quickly realized he was not able to swim.
"[Georgia] dragged me back to the boat," said Dane, who recalled immediately breaking down in tears once on the boat. "I was just, I was, like, heartbroken."
Dane also told Sawyer that he is "angry" about the diagnosis, explaining, "I'm angry because my father was taken from me when I was young, and now there's a very good chance that I'm going to be taken from my girls while they're very young."
"I mean, I really, at the end of the day, just, all I want to do is spend time with my family and work a little bit if I can," he added.
Fox News Digital's Janelle Ash contributed to this post.