Former Gray’s Anatomy star Eric Dane says he is involved in a study and is taking medication to try to slow down the effects of the ALS.
“I’m fighting as much as I can,” Dane said an interview with ABC News Diane Sawyer, showing “Good morning in America” on Tuesday. “There is so much about this that I am not controlled.”
Dane, 52, previously Sawyer revealed that he had already lost his right hand, just two months after April. Publicly revealed that he was diagnosed with Als, also known as Lou Gehrig disease.
Photo: Sandra Oh, Ellen Pompeo and Eric Dane on stage from Grey’s Anatomy. (Star Adler/Disney Common Entertainment Content through Getty Images)
Als, a short amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a degenerative neurological disorder, which eventually leads to paralysis, depriving a person’s ability to move, speak, swallow or even breathe, says National Health Institutes.
Currently, the Als is not known to heal, but some treatments, including FDA -approved medicines as riluteek and physical and language treatment, can slow down the progression of the disorder and improve the quality of life of the ALS patient. NiH says the average prognosis for patients with Als has two to five years of survival since the first time of symptoms, but there are a range of 10% of people living for 10 years or more.
Although Dane said he was worried about what symptoms he could experience further – whether it loses his left hand or legs – he found hope for a doctor leading his care, dr. Merit Cudkowicz, neurologist and leader of the Als researcher.
“That’s what I got from Merit when I met her … There was a feeling of hope I didn’t get from other doctors I met,” Dane said, adding that he had previously spoke to the organization that told him that his doctors would be there … watching my downturn – and it’s not very useful. “
Photo: Former Gray’s Anatomy star Eric Dane talks to Diane Sawyer’s “Good Morning in America” in 2025. June 16th (ABC News)
Cudkowicz, Chief of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Harvard Medical School neurology professor, said Sawyer that she expects Dane and other patients with Als, even as people diagnosed with the disease continue to grow.
Based on disease control and prevention centers, the US is diagnosed every year every year.
Erik Dane says he has lost his right hand in battle
Based on one calculation, by 2040. The number of people with ALS worldwide will increase by 70%.
Risk factors that lead to an increase in diagnoses are from environmental problems such as plastics and bacteria in lakes to trauma in sports, says Cudkowicz.
“We are worried about a head injury because we see that Als are more common in certain sports such as football or football. We are also worried about pesticides. Being in the military is a risk factor,” she said. “These are the ones we know about, but there’s a lot about what we don’t know about.”
Cudkowicz said her hopes for people with ALS arise due to the current medical discoveries – such as a breakthrough, which may slow down or stop the disease in some patients, as well as the scope of tests.
A scientist racing to cure als while fighting the disease
2014 The viral “ice bucket challenge” has filled the stunning $ 200 million funding for US research alone and has made more interest in the area, says Cudkowicz.
“There are people around the world who work,” she said, talking about Als’s research. “I am excited between artificial intelligence and other image technologies, and everything comes in the next one, I think you know, one or two years, if not, you know, faster.”
Dane, which became famous in six seasons during the ABC drama Grey’s Anatomy, where he played Doctor Mark Sloan, who is affectionately known as McSteamy, said he wants to try anything to give up paralysis associated with the ALS.
Photo: Former Gray’s Anatomy star Eric Dane talks to Diane Sawyer’s “Good Morning in America” in 2025. June 16th (ABC News)
“I will fly to Germany and eat my head off the rattling if [doctors] I was told that it would help, “he told Sawyer, laughing. – I’ll take the risk.
Dane, the father of two daughters, from the age of 13 and 15, described himself as “resistant” in their struggle with Als and the fight to remain optimistic.
“I really hope … I don’t think it’s the end of my story,” he said. “And whether or not, I will have that idea with myself.”
Eric Dane says he is “resistant” and “very hopeful” in diagnosis of the diagnosis initially appeared on goodmorningamerica.com