Eric Dane's daughter saved him from drowning amid ALS battle

Eric Dane described the terrifying moment his daughter saved him from drowning in his posthumous book, My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments.

In an excerpt of the memoir published by People, the late Grey's Anatomy actor recounted how he went on vacation to Antigua with his family in 2024 after he had been diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

However, Eric was rescued by daughter Georgia,14, and a friend from a pool after he realised he didn't have the power to swim anymore. He shared daughters Georgia and Billie, 16, with estranged wife Rebecca Gayheart.

"'I can't swim, Rebecca, I say. I can't swim,'" he recalled of the phone conversation. "She explodes into tears and I weep with her. We cry together. Finally, the tears slow, become reduced to gasps, and when we're both cried out, Rebecca says, 'I was afraid of this day. I knew it would come. I've been dreading it.'"

In April 2025, Eric publicly announced that he had been diagnosed with ALS. He died in February at the age of 53.

Elsewhere in the book, the Valentine's Day star recalled how he first started feeling different in January 2024.

"I'm eating sushi with my kids and suddenly I can't work the chopsticks with my right hand. My hand tingles, and then my fingers feel numb. Some kind of weird nerve thing, I think. I shake it off. I'm probably texting too much. Three weeks later, it happens again, only worse. I can't grip the chopsticks at all," he wrote, adding that it took nine months for him to receive an official diagnosis.

My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments will be available to purchase from 3 November.