The actor, who revealed his ASL diagnosis in April, played a firefighter with the same disease on the Monday, November 24, episode of the NBC medical drama. (ALS is a \u201cnervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. ALS causes loss of muscle control,\u201d per the Mayo Clinic.)<\/p>\n
\u201cI have never seen this happen in my entire career, but he essentially got a 10-minute standing ovation after shooting that scene, because it was so beautiful and so honest and so real,\u201d Brilliant Minds creator Michael Grassi told USA Today in an interview on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, while his character\u2019s finding bravery, there\u2019s a lot of bravery in Eric to tell the story as well. To come out and share this part of yourself is vulnerable but also really important, and I think raises awareness and shows people that they\u2019re not alone,\u201d Grassi continued.<\/p>\n
On Monday\u2019s episode, Dane, 53, portrayed Michael, a firefighter whose progressive ALS takes its toll on his body, while he also struggles to share the news with his ex-wife \u2014 played by M\u00e4dchen Amick \u2014 and daughter.<\/p>\n
Grassi told USA Today that he leapt at the opportunity to write a role for Dane when the actor\u2019s team reached out about a guest-starring role on the Zachary Quinto-led drama.<\/p>\n
Grassi said he was also dealing with a \u201chealth emergency\u201d in his family, and he and Dane began pitching \u201cthis idea of, \u2018How does a family navigate a difficult diagnosis?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd there\u2019s no rule book. There\u2019s no right way or wrong way to do it,\u201d Grassi said. \u201cAnd in our conversations, something that he was dealing with very much in real time, and I was dealing with in my life, and a lot of people deal with every day is, how do you navigate, how do you communicate and how do you accept help?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dane first shared his ALS diagnosis in a statement in April.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been diagnosed with ALS,\u201d the actor said at the time. \u201cI am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter. I feel fortunate that I am able to continue working and am looking forward to returning to set of Euphoria next week. I kindly ask that you give my family and I privacy during this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a June interview with ABC News\u2019 Diane Sawyer, the Grey\u2019s Anatomy alum opened up about being diagnosed with ALS after experiencing \u201cweakness\u201d in his right hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t really think anything of it at the time; I thought maybe I\u2019d been texting too much and my hand was fatigued,\u201d he recalled. \u201cA few weeks later, I noticed it\u2019d gotten a little worse. I went and saw a hand specialist, who sent me to another hand specialist. I went and saw a neurologist, and the neurologist sent me to another neurologist and said, \u2018This is way above my pay grade.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Dane was eventually diagnosed nine months later. \u201cI\u2019ll never forget those three letters,\u201d he said in June.<\/p>\n
At the time, the actor said he\u2019d lost function of his right arm and expected to lose function of his left hand within \u201cmaybe a couple, few more months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brilliant Minds airs on NBC Mondays at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacoc<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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