Actor Russell Andrews — perhaps best known for his roles in Grey’s Anatomy and Better Call Saul — revealed he has been diagnosed with ALS.
“I am a person living with ALS,” Andrews, 64, said during an appearance on CNN’s The Story Is With Elex Michaelson on Saturday; May 16.
“I was diagnosed in the late fall of last year,” he added. “It’s been humbling. But there’s also something in the fact that I walked into a family of very caring people. People I did not know a year ago.”
Andrews, who appeared on the segment with his fiancée, Erica Tazel, explained that he believed he had suffered a stroke during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It was a stressful time,” he explained. “There were moments. There were twitches. There were things that I thought I was having pinched nerves in my neck. And they were quite frequent. But then I was not able to do things I was normally able to do.”
According to Andrews, his diagnosis may have been caused by CTE from his college football career. However, it won’t be clear until after his death when doctors can study his brain. Andrews’ public announcement comes just three months after fellow Grey’s Anatomy star Eric Dane lost his battle with the same disease.
ALS is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder that “often begins with muscle twitching and weakness in an arm or leg,” according to The Mayo Clinic. Dane — who played Dr. Mark Sloan on the long-running medical drama — died in February, just 10 months after publicly announcing his diagnosis.
“With heavy hearts, we share that Eric Dane passed on Thursday afternoon following a courageous battle with ALS,” Dane’s family told People. “He spent his final days surrounded by dear friends, his devoted wife, and his two beautiful daughters, Billie and Georgia, who were the center of his world.”