Ella Stiller, 23, is the eldest child of actors Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor.
Eric Dane is sharing details of his battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS.
During a conversation with Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America” the “Grey’s Anatomy” actor shared that he only has “one functioning arm.”
“My left side is functioning, my right side has completely stopped working,” the 52-year-old told Sawyer, adding that his left arm has been getting increasingly weaker. “I feel like maybe a couple more months and I won’t have my left hand either. It’s sobering.”
The weakness in his right hand was one of the first ALS symptoms he began having a year and a half ago, Dane explained. Dan received his ALS diagnosis in April after nine months of testing.
Dane explained that he initially didn’t think much about the weakness in his right hand at the time, chalking it up to “texting too much or my hand was fatigued.”
“But a few weeks later I noticed it got a little worse,” Dane continued telling Sawyer. “So 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.'”
After being diagnosed with the incurable “fatal type of motor neuron disease,” Dane said he “will never forget those three letters.”
“It’s on me the second I wake up. It’s not a dream,” the “Euphoria” actor continued.
Although Dane still has use of his legs, he told Sawyer that he worries about losing his leg function as well, recalling a moment he was snorkeling with one of his daughters he shares with his wife Rebecca Gayheart.
According to Dane, he was snorkeling with his daughter when he was unable to swim back to the boat on his own.
“She dragged me back to the boat,” Dane told Sawyer. “I was like, breaking down in tears. I made sure she got back to the water with her friend and continued on with the snorkeling. I was just heart broken.”
“I’m angry because my father was taken from me when I was young, and now there’s a very good chance I’m going to be taken from my girls when they’re very young,” Dane continued, adding that, at the end of the day, all he wants to do is spend time with his family and tell them every day that they are loved.
Despite being diagnosed with ALS, Dane has returned to acting, saying, “In my heart, I don’t feel like this is the end for me. I’m fighting as much as I can. There’s so much about it that’s out of my control.”
But Dane’s wife, and the mother of his 15- and 13-year-old daughters, Gayheart has been his “biggest champion” during this time.
“We have managed to become better friends and better parents,” he said as he got emotional. “She is probably my biggest champion and my most stalwart supporter, and I lean on her.”
