Earlier this month, he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in health for his advocacy work.
« I’m trying to save my life, » Dane told the publication, « and if my actions can move the needle forward for myself and countless others, I’m satisfied ».
In December, he had joined the board of directors of Target ALS, an organisation dedicated to research for effective ALS treatments and a cure – who said he had helped one of its campaigns surpass a fundraising target of $500,000 (£371,000).
He also appeared in a video for a separate fundraising campaign in September in which he said he was « an actor… a father and now a person living with ALS », and spoke about « finally, finally push toward ending this disease ».
In June, he told ABC’s Good Morning America that the diagnosis had made him « angry » because he had lost his father, who died by suicide, as child: « There’s a very good chance I’m going to be taken from my girls while they’re very young. »
What is ALS?
According to the NHS, MND « encompasses several different conditions whose common feature is the premature degeneration of motor nerves (known as neurons or sometimes neurones) ».
It says nearly 90% of patients with MND have the mixed ALS form of the disease.
Also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rare degenerative disease that causes progressive paralysis of the muscles.
There is no cure for ALS, and, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, people usually live for three to five years after diagnosis although some can live for decades.
Correction 20 February 2026: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Kim Raver played Eric Dane’s on-screen wife in Grey’s Anatomy. Their characters had a short-lived romance but were not married.
