Rebecca Gayheart becomes caregiver for Eric Dane amid ALS battle

Rebecca Gayheart and Eric Dane could not be collectively romantically, however the former couple is going through his ALS analysis collectively.

As Dane’s situation progressed, Gayheart discovered herself taking up tasks past simply emotional assist.

She grew to become a devoted caregiver, coordinating care and offering 24-hour nursing assist whereas sustaining a separate family and maintaining life as regular as doable for his or her daughters.

The dedication, she stated, is rooted in a bond that not seems romantic however stays deeply private.

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Gayheart stated she has a “familial love” with Dane. The previous couple is divorced, however stays married. (Lester Cohen/Getty Photographs for GLAAD)

“Our love is probably not romantic, however it’s a familial love,” she stated The cut. “No matter I can do or present as much as make this journey higher for him or simpler for him, I need to try this.”

Dane now requires 24-hour nursing care, a actuality that Gayheart stated solely got here after continued battles with insurance coverage firms.

“Eric now has nurses 24/7,” she stated. “Simply determining the well being care system is its personal enterprise. The medical insurance firm will deny you what you ask for… it’s a must to attraction after which it’s a must to reapply.”

She recalled a blunt dialog with an insurance coverage consultant that fueled her willpower.

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Gayheart stated she needed to battle to get the care Dane wants. (Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)

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“On the nurses’ station, the lady from his insurance coverage firm stated to me, ‘You may hold making use of, and I am going to hold denying it,’” Gayheart stated. “I used to be like, Oh? F that. I made it my mission. I used to be ‘locked in,’ as the children would say. I crashed, after which I locked him up.”

After two appeals, the care was accepted, however gaps in protection stay, permitting Gayheart to take motion if essential.

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When caregiving calls for overlap with parenting tasks, Gayheart stated she has discovered to ask for assist — even when it feels uncomfortable.

“There was a 12-hour shift not too long ago that I could not cowl. I might solely work 4 hours due to all of the issues the children are doing,” she stated. “So I needed to name on two of Eric’s buddies, certainly one of whom had by no means actually cared for him in that method.”

Her hesitation was shortly met with assist.

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“I assumed, I am unable to imagine I needed to ask somebody to do that,” she stated. “And naturally once I requested for assist, they stated, ‘Yeah, no matter, what do you want? What is going on on?’ And so they each confirmed up and did a unbelievable job.”

The 54-year-old actress recalled the second she discovered of his ALS analysis. “I used to be sitting in my closet the day I heard these three letters: ALS,” Gayheart stated.

“Eric referred to as me from the physician’s workplace in San Francisco; he had flown there to see a neurologist there.’

Gayheart stated Dane skilled signs for a number of months earlier than receiving a analysis. (Rebecca Gayheart/Instagram)

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The warning indicators, she stated, had been there for nearly a 12 months, showing throughout on a regular basis moments with their kids.

“After we would go to dinner with the children, he would say issues like, ‘There’s one thing fallacious with my hand,’” Gayheart defined, saying he had bother utilizing utensils. “Then he began going to medical doctors.”

She added: ‘When he informed me that day, he simply began crying, as did I. It did not really feel actual as a result of he was nonetheless high-quality.”

At house with their youngest daughter, Gayheart tried to reply the decision privately.

“I used to be right here at house with my youngest daughter — my house, which I’ve solely shared with the women since Eric and I break up in September 2017 — and I had gone to my closet to take the decision, making an attempt to be personal,” she stated.

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Dane and Gayheart share daughters Billie, 15, and Georgia, 14. (Gilbert Flores/Selection through Getty Photographs)

Her daughter instantly sensed that one thing was fallacious.

Gayheart stated, “I attempted to inform her, ‘Honey, nothing. All the things’s high-quality’, as a result of I could not course of it.’

The previous couple, who share daughters Billie, 15, and Georgia, 14, later informed their kids the information below the steering of therapists.

“We needed to have full transparency and honesty with them,” Gayheart stated. ‘I am a horrible liar. You see proper via me.’

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Gayheart and Dane tied the knot in 2004. They separated in 2017, however the divorce submitting was withdrawn in April. Simply weeks later, the “Gray’s Anatomy” actor introduced that he had been identified with ALS.

In keeping with the Mayo Clinic, ALS is a “illness of the nervous system that impacts nerve cells within the mind and spinal wire.” It could actually result in extreme muscle loss, respiration difficulties, consuming issues and, in some circumstances, dementia.