Eric Dane was set for a big return to the spotlight at the 2025 Emmys, joining his Grey’s Anatomy castmates for a 20th-anniversary reunion—until “McSteamy” was suddenly missing from the stage. The reason, it turns out, was the same “nasty disease” he’s been bravely talking about since spring: ALS. A fall at home days before the ceremony sent him to the hospital for stitches and sidelined the appearance he’d been “really looking forward to.”

For years, Dane charmed viewers as Dr. Mark Sloan on Grey’s Anatomy and later drew critical praise in Euphoria. In April 2025, the 52-year-old revealed he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the progressive, incurable neurological disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s. “I have been diagnosed with ALS,” he told People, thanking his wife Rebecca Gayheart and their daughters, Billie and Georgia. “I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next…I kindly ask that you give my family and I privacy during this time.”

ALS steadily strips away muscle control—walking, speaking, even breathing can be affected. There’s no cure. Survival times vary; the disease has taken figures from Lou Gehrig and Stephen Hillenburg to Bryan Randall. Stephen Hawking, one of its most famous patients, lived with it for decades before his death in 2018.

Only a month after his announcement, Dane described to Diane Sawyer how quickly his mobility was changing. “I didn’t really think anything of it at the time. I thought maybe I’d been texting too much, or my hand was fatigued, but a few weeks later I noticed it got a little worse,” he said. “My dominant side. My left side is functioning; my right side has completely stopped working. It’s going. I feel like maybe a couple, few more months, and I won’t have my left hand either. It’s sobering. I will never forget those three letters…It’s on me the second I wake up. It’s not a dream…I don’t think this is the end of my story. I don’t feel like this is the end of me.”

In June, he doubled down on his determination to keep working. “I’m going to ride this ’till the wheels fall off,” he told E! News. “It keeps me sharp. It keeps me moving forward, which is super important right now. I feel great when I’m at work. Of course, there have been some sort of setbacks, but I feel pretty good. My spirit is always pretty buoyant, so at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”

Then came September. As Grey’s Anatomy prepared its Emmys tribute, Dane was slated to present with former co-star Jesse Williams. Days before the show, he lost his balance at home—another effect of ALS—and hit the kitchen floor. “ALS is a nasty disease,” he said. “So I was in the hospital during the Emmys getting stitches put in my head… I missed an opportunity I was really looking forward to. It would have been great to see Jesse and get reunited with some of my peers, and to be able to present in front of my colleagues I thought would have been a special moment. So, I was really upset about it, but you know, there was nothing I could do about it.”

Even as the disease intrudes, he’s directing attention outward—toward advocacy, research, and helping others navigate neurodegenerative illness. “This is something I felt compelled to share with people,” he said. “This is more of a: ‘How can I help? How can I be of some service?’” And then, with unvarnished clarity: “Not to be overly morbid, but you know, if I’m going out, I’m gonna go out helping somebody.”

For fans who first met him as the swaggering “McSteamy,” the contrast is stark and deeply human. The man who made a career out of onscreen invincibility is showing a quieter kind of strength—one that doesn’t deny fear or frustration, but keeps moving anyway. Heartbreaking, inspiring, and real, his story is a reminder of how fragile life is, and how fierce courage can be when it matters most.