
Patrick Dempsey, 60, has opened up about supporting his former on-screen friend Eric Dane, 53, who revealed in April that he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). “It’s very hard for him, but I do try to stay in touch and see how he’s doing,” Dempsey told Parade, adding that Dane is a “wonderful human being” and has been “incredibly courageous” in the midst of his diagnosis. Dempsey, who played Dr. Derek Shepherd on Grey’s Anatomy alongside Dane, who portrayed Dr. Mark Sloan, said he tried to get his co-star to join him in his new series, Memory of a Killer. Yet he added, “I was happy to see that he [Dane] was here in Toronto working on, I think, another medical drama.” Despite Dane’s diagnosis, the actor has revealed that he wants to keep acting and appeared in an episode of the NBC drama Brilliant Minds, where he portrayed a character diagnosed with ALS. “I’m fairly limited in what I can do physically as an actor, but I still have my brain, and I still have my speech, so I’m willing to just do about anything. I’ll take on any role,” Dane said at a virtual panel hosted by the I AM ALS organization in December.
























