Eric Dane’s upcoming book will remind readers that his ALS diagnosis never stopped him from loving the people closest to him.
“6:15 a.m. ‘Good morning, I love you.’ I say those five words aloud, today, and every day, dictating a text to Georgia, my 13-year-old daughter,” Dane wrote in an excerpt from My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments, per Maria Shriver’s The Sunday Paper. “I speak slowly into my phone, which Cynthia, my nurse, holds up to my mouth.”
In his posthumous memoir set to be released Tuesday, November 3, the late actor — who shared Billie, 16, and Georgia, now 14, with ex-wife Rebecca Gayheart — shares his deepest thoughts on this one precious life.
From his experience on Grey’s Anatomy to his ALS diagnosis, which he died from in February at the age of 53, Dane didn’t hold back when sharing the highs and lows of his reality.
“Readers, friends, family. Rebecca, my ex-wife, well, technically wife, best friend. My daughters. You hold my life in your hands,” he wrote. “Every part of me, every ounce of flesh, every muscle, every cell. My face. My eyes. That good hair still. My smile. My breath. My beating heart. And my mind, fully operational.”
Dane continued, “My body is failing, becoming weaker day by day, but my brain is alive, electrified, thoughts bouncing back and forth, ricocheting side to side, images hurtling at me — it was the best and worst of times — bringing me here, in the present, into this exact moment.”
In his latest excerpt, Dane said he wrote from his bed as he described himself as an “adult infant” who was immobile. He also described ALS as “a life-changing s***show.”
“Do I pray? No. Not saying I won’t at some point, because you never know. Never say never. But right now, I’m having a little bit of a disagreement with God,” he wrote. “We’re not seeing eye to eye. I do consider myself a spiritual person. I hope to pass that on.”
Back in March, Shriver, 70, expressed how “honored” she was that Dane chose her publishing imprint, The Open Field, to publish his memoir. She confirmed he was working on it “right up to the end” of his life.
“He told me he wanted his family to know how much he loved them,” she wrote via Instagram at the time, “and he wanted to leave them a story they could be proud of.”
While Dane wanted to make his family proud, he also wanted to inspire readers with his story.
“If you don’t read another page, if you decide to stop now, here’s a sliver of wisdom, a snippet of advice, a simple suggestion, a takeaway,” he wrote. “Don’t wait until you get the worst possible news before you decide to become your best possible person. Or friend. Or husband. Or dad. Start today.”
My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments is available in stores Tuesday, November 3.
