Months before receiving what he called his ALS “death sentence,” Eric Dane had been diagnosed with a different, treatable condition.
Dane died at 53 earlier this year. Now, a memoir he wrote during his illness has been published, offering an intimate account of his addiction struggles, his marriage to Rebecca Gayheart and the earliest warning signs of his disease.
My Book Of Days: A Memoir of Moments was released Tuesday. In the book, Dane recounts in striking detail the long and uncertain path that eventually led to his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, diagnosis.
ALS is a rare, incurable neurodegenerative disease that progressively damages the nervous system, eventually causing increasing muscle weakness and paralysis.
Dane wrote that he first sought medical help after “gradually losing any use of [his] right hand.”
“First, I saw a hand specialist, who passed me off to another hand specialist, who sent me to a neurologist,” the actor recalled.
Eric Dane (above, in Los Angeles in June 2025) was diagnosed with a treatable illness months before what he described as receiving his ALS “death sentence”
My Book Of Days: A Memoir of Moments was released Tuesday, detailing the process that led to Eric Dane’s amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, diagnosis
The neurologist initially suspected that the actor had developed “some form of neuropathy,” but felt the case was “above [his] pay grade” and referred him to another physician.
“I shuttled from doctor to doctor and underwent a battery of tests, including one called an EMG, an electromyography test,” Dane wrote.
After consultations with several doctors, he said he was eventually given “a diagnostic consensus” of multifocal motor neuropathy.
Multifocal motor neuropathy, or MMN, is a rare, slowly progressive autoimmune disorder that damages the body’s motor nerves, according to Cleveland Clinic. The disease can be treated, although it cannot be cured.
“Finally, thankfully, an answer. And, even better, a treatment—a transfusion that is 90 percent effective,” Dane recalled.
“A glum doctor injected immunoglobulin or gamma globulin or some kind of globulin into my body. Lit me up.
“Except—it didn’t work. I didn’t respond to the treatment. I still couldn’t move my right hand.”
When Dane failed to improve, his doctors became alarmed—and their concern heightened his own fears.
Several doctors ultimately agreed that he had multifocal motor neuropathy, but the treatment, described as 90 percent effective, did not help (above, Dane in New York in May 2024)
Dane became famous as Dr. Mark Sloan, known as “McSteamy,” on Grey’s Anatomy
Dane then returned to his primary care doctor in Los Angeles. The physician told him in what he described as a “grim monotone”: “I’m going to level with you. We’ve been discussing ALS. But we have to wait and see.”
The actor spent the following months undergoing further examinations, including a lumbar puncture, spinal-fluid testing and brain scans. Still, he had no definitive diagnosis.
Frustrated by the lack of answers, Dane drew on his connections to contact Dr. Terrelonge, head of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, and underwent the tests again.
Dane said the doctor approached him hesitantly but spoke with complete certainty when he finally delivered the diagnosis the actor had been “scared to death” to hear: ALS.
“The letters seem to float out of his mouth and hover ominously above me. I know what the letters mean. I’ve prepared myself for at least that much,” Dane wrote.
“I know those letters mean I have a progressive, degenerative disease that will gradually destroy the nerve cells and connections I need to walk, use my hands, speak, and breathe. I know I’m facing a death sentence. My life has become a horror movie.”
Even after receiving the devastating news, Dane focused on comforting his brother Sean and his cousin Mark, who had accompanied him to the Bay Area.
Dane was married to actress Rebecca Gayheart, and the couple shared two daughters, Billie, 16, and Georgia, 14.
Dane, who rose to fame playing womanizing surgeon Dr. Mark Sloan, or “McSteamy,” on Grey’s Anatomy, died of ALS on February 19 at age 53, about a year after publicly announcing his diagnosis.
Dane was married to actress Rebecca Gayheart (above, in Los Angeles in June 2017); although they separated that year, they remained amicable co-parents and never officially finalized their divorce
The couple shared daughters Billie, 16, and Georgia, 14 (above with Dane in Hollywood in May 2024)
Dane and Gayheart separated in 2017 but continued to co-parent amicably. They never finalized their divorce, which was dismissed shortly before he disclosed that he had ALS, also known in the United States as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Gayheart, 55, remained a steadfast source of support during Dane’s final decline, even though both continued to date other people.
The couple married in 2004, two years before Dane secured his fan-favorite role as “McSteamy” on Grey’s Anatomy.
They remained together after a scandal five years into their marriage, when a home video surfaced showing them naked and frolicking with a former beauty queen.
Gayheart also supported Dane through a series of personal struggles, including a 2011 rehabilitation stay to stop using pain medication he had begun taking after an injury.
In 2017, six years later, Dane entered treatment for depression. His recovery led to a temporary production break on his action-drama series The Last Ship.
The following year, Gayheart filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. The pair agreed to share custody of their daughters, with Dane paying alimony.
Dane and Gayheart are pictured with their two children in Los Angeles in June 2017
Gayheart, who worked only occasionally after becoming a mother, said several months after filing for divorce that she wanted to return to acting.
“I think that as a female you need to be able to always take care of yourself and never depend on a man,” she told Us Weekly. “I’m going back to work and I think it’s partly because I want my daughters to see me work.”
She said she and Eric were “doing our best” to raise their daughters together, while acknowledging: “It isn’t easy. But we are trying and we are committed.”
The couple ultimately abandoned the divorce proceedings in the weeks before Dane announced his ALS diagnosis.
Dane’s memoir, My Book Of Days: A Memoir of Moments, is now available.
