Eric Dane received misdiagnosis months before ALS ‘death sentence’

Eric Dane was initially misdiagnosed with a treatable illness months before receiving his ALS “death sentence,” his posthumous memoir reveals.

In “My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments,” out Tuesday, the actor wrote that he sought answers while “gradually losing any use of [his] right hand.”

He recalled, “First, I saw a hand specialist, who passed me off to another hand specialist, who sent me to a neurologist.”

Eric Dane (pictured above in June 2025) was diagnosed with a treatable illness months before his ALS “death sentence,” the actor wrote in his posthumous memoir. AFP via Getty Images
The “Grey’s Anatomy” alum described his health struggles in “My Book of Days: A Memoir of Moments,” which hit bookshelves Tuesday. The Open Field

While the neurologist speculated Dane “had contracted some form of neuropathy,” he felt the “Grey’s Anatomy” alum’s struggles were “above [his] pay grade” and sent him to another doctor.

“I shuttled from doctor to doctor and underwent a battery of tests, including one called an EMG, an electromyography test,” Dane remembered, noting that he eventually received “a diagnostic consensus” of multifocal motor neuropathy.

He described the condition as “a rare autoimmune disorder causing extreme muscle weakness” with “90 percent effective” treatment.

Dane (pictured above in April 2022) recalled being “shuttled from doctor to doctor and underwent a battery of tests.” Getty Images
The “Euphoria” alum (pictured above in October 2025) received “a diagnostic consensus” of multifocal motor neuropathy. ShotbyNYP / BACKGRID

However, Dane did not respond to the treatment — which left his medical team “scared.”

His primary care doctor subsequently gave Dane “grim” news, saying, “We’ve been discussing ALS. But we have to wait and see.”

The “frustrated and fed up” “Euphoria” alum went on to undergo a lumbar puncture, spinal fluid extraction and brain scans.

Dane was diagnosed nine months later in 2024, and he called the disease a “death sentence” and the makings of a “horror movie” in his book.

This is “a rare autoimmune disorder causing extreme muscle weakness” with “90 percent effective” treatment. (Pictured above: Dane in October 2025.) Roger / PGP / BACKGRID
However, Dane’s doctors got scared when he did not respond to treatment. (Pictured above: Dane in September 2025.) The Washington Post via Getty Images

He went public with his ALS battle in April of the following year.

Dane died in February at 53 and is survived by daughters Billie, 16, and Georgia, 14, whom he welcomed with then-wife Rebecca Gayheart.

Dane called Gayheart, whom he split from in 2017 after more than a decade of marriage, after his diagnosis, recounting the conversation in his tell-all.

After telling his estranged wife the diagnosis was “what [they’d] feared,” he felt “a violent impact, like getting the wind knocked out of” him.

Dane (pictured above in June 2024) died in February. Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images
He is survived by two daughters (pictured above in June 2017), whom he shared with estranged wife Rebecca Gayheart. Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Image

He experienced “body-shudder[ing]” sobs while Gayheart “wail[ed]” over the phone.

Last month, Gayheart told People about the emotional moment, calling Dane’s words a “punch to the gut.”

She told the outlet that if she could talk to her ex now, she would tell him, “I’m going to look after [our] girls and protect them with everything in my body and soul.”

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *