{"id":459555,"date":"2026-02-05T07:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T07:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/459555\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T07:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T07:05:13","slug":"ellen-pompeo-shares-heartbreaking-text-sent-to-eric-dane-after-his-devastating-health-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/459555\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellen Pompeo shares heartbreaking text sent to Eric Dane after his devastating health diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grey’s Anatomy<\/a> star Ellen Pompeo<\/a> shared the heartbreaking moment she found out about Eric Dane’s<\/a> motor neurone disease (MND)<\/a> diagnosis.<\/p>\n

The 56-year-old actress honoured her former co-star Dane, 53, at the ALS Network Champions for Cures & Care Gala, which took place in January.<\/p>\n

“As soon as I heard, I texted him, ‘I’m here if you want to speak,” recalled Pompeo, as reported by People<\/a>. “And my phone rang 30 seconds later.”<\/p>\n

\"EllenThe co-stars have known each other for 20 years. (Instagram \/ @ellenpompeo)<\/p>\n

Pompeo, who could not attend the gala in person, reflected on the moment she learned of the news in a pre-recorded video.<\/p>\n

“Whatever you need, however I can help. I love you,” she remembered telling Dane after the actor revealed his health battle in April last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dane was also unable to attend the event in person. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Pompeo said she was proud of her co-star who she met 20 years ago on set of the hit medical series, and spoke fondly of their “instant chemistry”.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Eric Dane’s ex gives a sad update amid ongoing health battle<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Bachelor star expecting twins after three miscarriages<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Channing Tatum shares photos from hospital bed before surgery<\/a><\/p>\n

\"EllenPompeo said she was proud to honour Dane at the gala. (WireImage)\"EllenThe two rose to fame on hit medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. (ABC)<\/p>\n

“I remember when he came in as McSteamy… and I immediately just fell in love with him,” she said.<\/p>\n

\ufeff\ufeffDane was first diagnosed with MND<\/a>, known in America mostly as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), aka Lou Gehrig’s disease, in April 2025.<\/p>\n

It is a progressive degenerative disease that affects motor nerves that allow a person to move, swallow, talk and breathe. The exact cause is not known.<\/p>\n

Late last year Dane spoke at a virtual event for the non-profit organisation I am ALS where he addressed the mental toll of the disease<\/a>.\ufeff<\/p>\n

“I have no reason to be in a good spirit at any time, on any given day,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think anybody would blame me if I went upstairs in my bedroom, crawled under the sheets, and spent the next two weeks crying.<\/p>\n

“[But] I was a little bit pleasantly surprised when I realised that I wasn’t built like that, because I thought for sure that was gonna be me.”<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Grey’s Anatomy’s most famous guest stars you might have forgotten about<\/p>\n

Dane rose to fame on Grey’s Anatomy, where he played the handsome \ufeffDr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan from 2006 – 2012.<\/p>\n

He joined \ufeffPompeo, best known for playing title character Dr. Meredith Grey in the series, during the second season two decades ago.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo shared the heartbreaking moment she found out about Eric Dane’s motor neurone disease…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":["post-459555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}