Eric Dane was forced to miss an appearance at the ALS Network’s Care and Care Champions Gala on Saturday, January 24, due to ongoing challenges related to his ALS diagnosis.
“The ALS Network has been informed that Eric Dane had hoped to join us tonight to accept his Advocate of the Year award, but due to the physical realities of ALS, he is not well enough to attend,” an ALS Network spokesperson said. The Hollywood Reporter on Saturday
The group’s statement continued: “We are deeply grateful for his courage, advocacy and continued commitment to the ALS community, and we fully honor him tonight with our deep respect and support. Aaron LazarBroadway star and Grammy Award nominee, will accept the award on his behalf.”
The charity announced in September 2025, Dane, 53, would receive the Advocate of the Year award at its annual ceremony in Pasadena, California. The ALS Network credited Dane with bringing “international attention to ALS” through his “leadership and compassion” since he was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease.
“This award is more than an honor,” Dane said at the time. “(The award is) a reflection of the incredible strength and courage I see in the ALS community every day.”
Dane went public with his ALS diagnosis in April 2025. (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease or motor neurone disease, is a “nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord” and causes loss of muscle control over time, according to the Mayo Clinic.)
“I’ve been diagnosed with ALS,” he said people at that time. “I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter.”
He continued: “I feel lucky to be able to continue working and look forward to returning to the set of euphoria next week I kindly request that you give my family and me privacy during this time.”
Eric Dane in June 2019.
CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty ImagesBesides shooting euphoria in season 3, Dane guest starred Brilliant minds in November 2025 to play a firefighter and 9/11 hero who struggles to share his ALS diagnosis with his family. She promoted the TV role by opening up on a Giving Tuesday panel with I AM ALS about the impact of her diagnosis on her work life.
“I’m not about to surrender my purpose to any illness. I’m just not capable of it,” she explained, before later adding: “I have no reason to be in a good mood at any given time, on any given day. I don’t think anyone would blame me if I went up the stairs to my bedroom, crawled under the sheets and spent the next two weeks and I realized that I was surprised a little bit crying. It wasn’t built that way, because I thought for sure that it would be me.”
She added: “I think it’s imperative that I share my journey with as many people as I can because I no longer feel like my life is about me.”
During this same panel, Dane emphasized that his the support of the family had been fundamental while struggling with the uncertainties of his future.
“Obviously I have a family at home and they are the first priority, but this is very important to me to make sure people know what ALS is and what it’s all about and more importantly what we can do to fight it and improve the landscape,” she said.
Eric Dane’s wife Rebecca Gayheart says the couple’s two daughters are “taking it day by day” amid their battle with ALS. “We have some professional therapists who are helping us, and we’re just trying to have some hope and do it with dignity and grace and love,” Gayheart, 54, told People in an interview published Saturday (…)
Dane and his estranged wife, Rebecca Gayheartthey share two daughters: Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13. (Gayheart filed for divorce from Dane in February 2018, but withdrew the legal petition in March 2025. Dane made his red carpet debut with his girlfriend Janell Shirtcliff at the premiere of his show in Los Angeles countdown in June, while Gayheart has been linked to billionaire Peter Morton.)
Dane has been candid about the progression of ALS. He confirmed Good morning America in June 2025 that only had “an arm that works” because his left side “completely stopped working” and it was later photographed in a wheelchair that October