Eric Dane's Memoir Reveals the Early Symptom He Experienced Before His ALS Diagnosis.
Eric Dane, who passed away, is providing insight into how his fight with ALS started. The Grey's Anatomy star, who passed away in February, first showed signs of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis while dining with his family in January 2024, months before the illness was officially diagnosed.
“I’m eating sushi with my kids and suddenly I can’t work the chopsticks with my right hand,” according to a passage that People was able to obtain from Dane's postmortem memoir, My Book of Days, “and then my fingers feel numb.”
The Euphoria alum, who was married to Rebecca Gayheart-Dane and has daughters Georgia, 14, and Billie, 16, acknowledged that he disregarded the symptom because he thought it was “some kind of weird nerve thing.”
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Dane said that he tried to "shake it off," pointing out that his tendency to "probably text too much" made it difficult for him to utilize the chopsticks.
But he soon discovered that was untrue.
“Three weeks later, it happens again, only worse,” Dane added. “I can’t grip the chopsticks at all.”
According to the memoir published on November 3, this caused the Last Ship star to spend nine months "searching for answers" to his then-inexplicable ailments.
Dr. Mark Terrelonge, a neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco, ultimately diagnosed Dane with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's illness. Dane wrote that he called Gayheart-Dane right away after the consultation.
He informed her that the news was "what we feared."
“I don’t remember a single word I said after that,” Dane remarked. “I remember only feeling a violent impact, like getting the wind knocked out of me, and Rebecca wailing on the other end of the phone, and then I really lose it, and my sobs make my body shudder, and I hear her words pouring out amid her tears, ‘I’m here, we’ll fight this together, I’m not going anywhere.’”
The Burlesque star revealed his ALS diagnosis to the public in an interview with People in April 2025. “I have been diagnosed with ALS. I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter.”
Dane worked for as long as he could until his death ten months later. Despite his challenges with ALS, he remained optimistic and supported efforts to find a cure.
“It's imperative that I share my journey with as many people as I can because I don't feel like my life is about me anymore,” in December 2025, he spoke in a virtual forum organized by the nonprofit organization I AM ALS. “I would love my life to be all about me, but I just can't. I don't think I would be able to move forward if that were the case. It's been a propulsive sort of component to my existence.”