Sign in 'There's hope:' ALS researcher discusses Eric Dane's diagnosis

In an exclusive interview with Diane Sawyer, the actor discusses his ALS diagnosis, the challenges ahead and why he remains hopeful.

ARTICLE

Eric Dane says he’s ‘resilient’ and ‘very hopeful’ amid ALS diagnosis: Dane told Diane Sawyer he has lost use of his right arm amid his ALS battle.
By Katie Kindelan - GMA
ABC
June 17, 2025, 8:14 AM
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Wellness/eric-dane-resilient-hopeful-amid-als-diagnosis/story?id=122894813

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Former “Grey’s Anatomy” star Eric Dane says he is in a research study and taking medication in order to try to slow the effects of ALS.

“I’m fighting as much as I can,” Dane told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer in an interview that aired Tuesday on “Good Morning America.” “There’s so much about it that’s out of my control.”

Dane, 52, previously revealed to Sawyer that he has already lost the use of his right arm, just two months after revealing publicly in April that he had been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

ALS, short for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a degenerative neurological disorder that eventually leads to paralysis, taking away a person’s ability to move, speak, swallow or even breathe, according to the National Institutes of Health.

There is currently no known cure for ALS, but some treatments, including FDA-approved medications sch as Rilutek and physical and speech therapies, may slow down the progression of the disorder and improve an ALS patient’s quality of life. The NIH states that the average prognosis for ALS patients is two to five years of survival from the time of first symptoms, but there is a range — 10% of people with the condition live 10 years or more.

While Dane said he worries about what symptoms of ALS he may experience next — whether that’s losing use of his left arm or his legs — he has found hope in the doctor leading his care, Dr. Merit Cudkowicz, a neurologist and leading ALS researcher.

“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,” Dane said, adding 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.”

Cudkowicz, chief of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, told Sawyer she has hope for Dane and other patients with ALS, even as the number of people diagnosed with the disease continues to grow.

Around 5,000 people are diagnosed with ALS each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Eric Dane says he has lost use of his right arm amid ALS battle

By 2040, the number of people with ALS globally will rise by 70%, according to one estimate.

The risk factors behind the rise in diagnoses range from environmental concerns like plastics and bacteria in lakes to injuries in sports, according to Cudkowicz.

“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.”

Cudkowicz said her hope for people with ALS stems from medical discoveries currently being made — like a breakthrough drug that can slow or halt the disease in some patients — as well as the volume of research underway.

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Dreadful, dreadful disease. I didn’t know who Eric Dane is as I’ve never seen the shows he’s been in...Thanks for posting this.

I worked with a gal in OC, CA years ago who was diagnosed with ALS. She walked every morning before leaving for work and it was on one of those walks where she encountered difficulty with one foot...It seemed to take forever for a diagnosis. Her husband took care of her at home until the end.

She was the receptionist at our office and would say, “I’m going to run down to get the mail.” I would say, “Mary, why don’t you take the elevator?” I loved to hear her laugh - but she did indeed take the stairs to go down another floor to the mailboxes.

I was 6 years old when the movie “Pride of the Yankees” came out. We drove a distance to see movies and I cried all the way home after seeing that movie. I became a Yankee fan and absorbed every Yankee baseball game on the radio after that - laying on the living room floor by the large radio and keeping score on a tablet. Had pictures of all the 1940’s Yankee players on my bedroom wall - the greats - Yogi Berra, Phil Rizutto, Joe Di Maggio etal....

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