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- Primary Subject: The passing and ALS advocacy of actor Eric Dane
- Key Update: Beloved Grey's Anatomy and Euphoria star Eric Dane passed away aged 53 on February 19, 2026, ten months after his public ALS diagnosis.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: February 20, 2026
- Quick Answer: Eric Dane died on February 19, 2026, due to complications from ALS. He was 53 years old and had spent his final year as a leading advocate for the ALS community.
Eric Dane, who is best known for his prominent roles in Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Mark Sloan, aka McSteamy, has died at the age of 53 years old, 10 months after he made a public announcement about his diagnosis of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
What exactly is ALS Disease, and what did the Euphoria star previously say about it?
When Was Eric Dane Diagnosed with ALS, and How Deadly Is It?
Eric Dane, who was a devoted father to two daughters with his wife, actress Rebecca Gayheart, was first diagnosed with ALS in April 2025 and decided to take action by lobbying lawmakers in Washington in June 2025. He was later named Advocate of the Year by the ALS Network five months after the diagnosis.
ALS, which stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a progressive neurological disorder that destroys motor neurons that control the human body's voluntary movement. Otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's disease, it gradually makes patients lose the ability to walk, speak, eat, and breathe.
Symptoms vary from person to person, but it's typically found in sudden muscle weakness, twitching and cramping, weakness in swallowing, breathing, or slurred speech. Causes for ALS have not been completely pinned down yet, but a 2009 study suggests that smoking tobacco is potentially one of the riskiest factors.
According to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, there is no cure for ALS, and people usually live two to five years after diagnosis. However, some patients can still live for decades more (ALS Association).
What Did Eric Dane Say About His ALS Journey? Timeline Explained
After publicly announcing his diagnosis in 2025, he still managed to appear in the set of Euphoria season 3 to make his return as the Jacobs family patriarch. The only thing he requested from the public was: "I kindly ask that you give my family and I privacy during this time."
In June 2025, Dane discussed the very first symptom of ALS on Good Morning America: "I started experiencing some weakness in my right hand, and I didn't really think anything of it at the time. I thought maybe I had been texting too much or my hand was fatigued. But a few weeks later, I noticed it had gotten a little worse."
By September of the same year, he was seen in a wheelchair at a Washington, DC airport, struggling to speak to a photographer.
In January, he was abruptly pulled out of another ALS event, noting the "physical realities of ALS" and not being "well enough to attend."
On December 2, Dane spoke in a virtual panel for I Am ALS on Giving Tuesday, where he discussed the time he played a character battling ALS in the drama series, Brilliant Minds. Dane described it as "hard" and said that there had been times when he found it "difficult getting the lines out."
"Nobody survives this. We both know that." Dane said, "I've never played a character who's going through something I'm dealing with in real time, in real life as well."
In the same interview, he added, "I'm fairly limited in what I can do physically." Apart from his strong desire to spread ALS awareness and combat it, he noted that his roles would likely be limited and veer more towards ALS-centric ones.
At the time, he played Matthew, a firefighter struggling to tell his family about his ALS diagnosis. His final performances, including Brilliant Minds, have been praised by colleagues as "inspiring" and "cathartic" portrayals of resilience.
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