Eric Dane initially thought his ALS symptoms were the result of "texting too much".

The Grey's Anatomy star died in February 2026 at the age of 53 two years after he was diagnosed with the degenerative neurological disorder and he opened up about the early stages of his illness in his candid autobiography My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments, revealing he first noticed a problem when he started struggling to eat sushi with chopsticks in January 2024.

Dane wrote: "I'm eating sushi with my kids and suddenly I can't work the chopsticks with my right hand. My hand tingles, and then my fingers feel numb."

He added he initially thought it was a nerve problem related to using his smart phone, writing: "Some kind of weird nerve thing, I think. I shake it off. I'm probably texting too much. "

However, he started to worry when it happened again. The actor wrote: "Three weeks later, it happens again, only worse. I can't grip the chopsticks at all."

Dane then spent nine months "searching for answers" before being diagnosed with ALS, which he announced to the world in April 2025.

The actor's estranged wife Rebecca Gayheart, the mother of his two daughters Georgia, 14, and Billie, 16, previously admitted she was initially worried about his plan to write a book about his life, but she has since decided it was a good idea for the sake of the children.

She told PEOPLE: "[I'm] grateful he did [write the book] , because it gives my girls the opportunity to know their dad as a human being."

In the book, Dane opened up about he moment he told his former partner about his diagnosis, writing: "[I told her] 'It's what we feared'.

"I don't remember a single word I said after that ... [She was] wailing on the other end of the phone.

"My sobs make my body shudder, and I hear her words pouring out amid her tears: 'I'm here, we'll fight this together, I'm not going anywhere'."

Dane added he decided to prioritise his children in light of the devastating news, adding: "I'm going to take this on. I'm going to fight. I'm going to show my girls how to walk through this life with grace and dignity, no matter what. I am going to FIGHT.

"This has become my purpose. My reason. This is now my job."