we do have an ABC News exclusive now

Actor Eric Dayne speaking his first TV

interview about his ALS diagnosis You

may know it as Lou Garrick’s disease And

Diane sat down with the Grey’s Anatomy

star to talk about his health battle

that he revealed to the world just a

short time ago That’s right Who can

forget as you say the tall captivating

actor who walked onto the set of Grey’s

Anatomy almost 20 years ago now He’s

also working of course on the hit show

Euphoria and has a new show coming out

in a week called Countdown But as he’ll

tell you now he’s already feeling some

of the effects of this very tough

diagnosis But he’s in the fight for

himself and his family and for the 5,000

people every year in this country who

get the same wrenching news

There he is The blue eyes the sly smile

Eric Dayne arrives at Grey’s Anatomy

So

do you ever go out with co-workers

i um make it a rule not to that I am so

glad that I don’t work here

He’s a little mysterious and charming It

doesn’t take long before he’ll be

immortalized as Dr McSteamy

And now this 52year-old man we all know

is walking into the room This is

wonderful And you are tall I am tall

Yeah Yeah It helps doesn’t it i like it

He is here to talk about his shattering

medical diagnosis so that anyone else

who receives the same news will know

they’re not alone

Take me back to the first thing that

made you concerned worried baffled Where

did it begin

i started experiencing some weakness

in my right hand

And I I didn’t really think anything of

it um at the time I thought maybe I’d

been texting too much or my hand was

fatigued But a few weeks later I noticed

that it had gotten a little worse 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.”

Finally after 9 months the crushing

reality He is told he has the incurable

disease that progressively kills the

nerves that connect to your muscles

affecting your arms legs speech

breathing In the end for so many

paralysis while your mind is still acute

It’s called ALS I will never forget

those three letters It’s on me the

second I wake up It’s not a dream It’s

not a dream

No A disease without a road map just a

daily inventory of what is being lost It

is now a year and a half since the

symptoms began I have one functioning

arm

My dominant side is your right side Yeah

my left side is functioning My right

side is completely

completely stopped uh working And then

your left arm is fine No it’s going

Yeah I feel like maybe a

couple few more months and I won’t have

my left hand either sobering

He says he’s walking fine but thinking

about his legs Is that what you’re

worried about next to your leg

Yeah I’m worried about my legs And

always on his mind his family with

actress Rebecca Gayart The couple once

separated but now are close Their two

daughters are 13 and 15 years old

Just a couple of months ago his youngest

daughter was on a boat trip with the dad

who’d been a competitive swimmer a water

polo star When I jumped into the ocean

that day and and realized I couldn’t

swim and generate enough power to get

myself back to the boat

Um I thought “Oh god.” And then I

realized in that moment I’m not safe in

the water anymore

his daughter had to race to his rescue

She dragged me back to the boat What did

you say to each other i was like

breaking down in tears and so I made

sure she got back in the water with her

friend and continued on with the

snorkeling with the guide Um but I was

just heartbroken Who’s the person you

call when it hits your heart i call

Rebecca

I talk to her every day

We have managed to become um

better friends and better parents

and she is my

probably my biggest champion and my my

most stalward supporter

Um and I lean on her

[Music]

He had met her when he was an uncertain

young man trying to make his way in

Hollywood

Where on earth did you get that picture

jeez I wish I had that hair I was going

to mention that but you do have that

hair It’s gray I look like Gandalf now

This guy looks somewhat confident but

teetering on arrogance and full of

hubris and hope

and uh

hurt

The hurt of a little boy whose dad had

died by suicide when he was just 7 years

old You’re 7 years old Seven years old

You could always sense that mystery

inside him even as he became a star and

stunned the 23 million people who were

watching this scene Oh

this is awkward Do you think well this

could be memorable

in that moment no I had no idea I just

remember walking out of a bathroom with

a very nice gentleman kind of blowing

smoke towards me

He also stars in another giant show

Euphoria

And next a new series on Amazon a police

thriller called Countdown

He says he is going to keep fighting

this disease for the life he loves every

single day I I don’t think this is the

end of my story I just don’t feel like

in my heart I don’t feel like this is

the end of me

I’m I’m fighting as much as I can

There’s so much about it that’s out of

my control

How angry

does the illness make you very I’m angry

because you know my father was taken

from me when I was young and now you

know there’s a very good chance I’m

going to be taken from my girls while

they’re very young

I mean I really at the end of the day

just all I want to do is is spend time

with my family and and um work a little

bit if I can and make sure that you tell

them that you love them every day

Every day

they’re loved They know it

He really is an extraordinary man and he

has so much more to say and I want

everyone to know we’re going to sit with

his doctor tomorrow and him to talk

about what’s possible in the next couple

of years Hope and also she startled me

by how much this disease is on the

increase and all the everyday things in

our lives that could be contributing to

it I don’t think we know this And by the

way we all did that ice bucket challenge

Do you know it raised $200 million

$200 million And she says that’s already

made a huge difference So much more is

needed So that’s coming up tomorrow Yeah

Because you said what 5,000 a year are

diagnosed every year in this country

This country alone All right Diane