Former "Grey's Anatomy" star Eric Dane says he is in a research study and taking medication in order to try to slow the effects of ALS.
"I'm fighting as much as I can," Dane told ABC News' Diane Sawyer in an interview that aired Tuesday on "Good Morning America." "There's so much about it that's out of my control."
Dane, 52, previously revealed to Sawyer that he has already lost the use of his right arm, just two months after revealing publicly in April that he had been diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
ALS, short for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a degenerative neurological disorder that eventually leads to paralysis, taking away a person's ability to move, speak, swallow or even breathe, according to the National Institutes of Health.
There is currently no known cure for ALS, but some treatments, including FDA-approved medications sch as Rilutek and physical and speech therapies, may slow down the progression of the disorder and improve an ALS patient's quality of life. The NIH states that the average prognosis for ALS patients is two to five years of survival from the time of first symptoms, but there is a range -- 10% of people with the condition live 10 years or more.
While Dane said he worries about what symptoms of ALS he may experience next -- whether that's losing use of his left arm or his legs -- he has found hope in the doctor leading his care, Dr. Merit Cudkowicz, a neurologist and leading ALS researcher.
"That's what I got from Merit when I met her ... there was a sense of hope I didn't get from other doctors that I met with," Dane said, adding that he had spoken previously with an organization that told him his doctors would be "there to ... monitor my decline -- and that's not very helpful."
Cudkowicz, chief of neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, told Sawyer she has hope for Dane and other patients with ALS, even as the number of people diagnosed with the disease continues to grow.
Around 5,000 people are diagnosed with ALS each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Eric Dane says he has lost use of his right arm amid ALS battleBy 2040, the number of people with ALS globally will rise by 70%, according to one estimate.
The risk factors behind the rise in diagnoses range from environmental concerns like plastics and bacteria in lakes to injuries in sports, according to Cudkowicz.
"We worry about head trauma because we do see ALS more common in people in certain sports like football or soccer. We worry about pesticides as well. Being in the military is a risk factor," she said. "Those are the ones we know about, but there's many more we don't know about."
Cudkowicz said her hope for people with ALS stems from medical discoveries currently being made -- like a breakthrough drug that can slow or halt the disease in some patients -- as well as the volume of research underway.
Scientist races to find a cure for ALS while battling the disease himselfThe viral "ice bucket challenge" in 2014 infused an astonishing $200 million in funding for ALS research in the U.S. alone and sparked a greater interested in the field, according to Cudkowicz.
"There's people all over the world working on this," she said, referring to ALS research. "Between artificial intelligence and other imaging technology, that's what gets me excited, and that's all coming in the next, I think, you know, one to two years, if not, you know, faster."
Dane -- who shot to fame amid six seasons on the hit ABC drama "Grey's Anatomy," where he played Dr. Mark Sloan, affectionately known as "McSteamy" -- said he is willing to try anything in his quest to stave off the paralysis associated with ALS.
"I will fly to Germany and eat the head off a rattlesnake if [doctors] told me that that would help," he told Sawyer with a laugh. "I'll assume the risk."
Dane, a father of two daughters, ages 13 and 15, went onto describe himself as "resilient" in both his fight against ALS and his fight to stay optimistic.
"I'm very hopeful ... I don't think this is the end of my story," he said. "And whether it is or it isn't, I'm gonna carry that idea with me."
