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Rebecca Gayheart Details Care, Co-Parenting After Eric Dane's ALS Diagnosis

A new first-person essay details the family's fight for 24/7 nursing care.

Overview

  • Gayheart writes that Dane now has round-the-clock nurses after two insurance denials were overturned on appeal, with the week split into 21 shifts that she sometimes fills herself.
  • She recounts Dane calling from a San Francisco neurologist’s office to share the diagnosis, saying both of them began weeping during the call.
  • The estranged spouses live about 12 minutes apart and organize frequent meals and visits to maximize Dane’s time with their daughters, Billie, 15, and Georgia, 14.
  • They told their children about a week after Gayheart learned the news, and the family relies on therapists and direct access to Dane’s doctor to support the teens.
  • Dane disclosed ALS publicly in April 2025, has lost function in his right arm with weakening in his left, and continues advocacy work and selective roles related to his experience.