Photo: Molly Matalon This essay was originally published on December 29, 2025. On February 19, 2026, Eric Dane died. He was 53. In a statement to People, his family said, “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.” I was in my closet the day I heard those three letters: ALS. Eric called me from the doctor’s office in San Francisco; he’d flown down to see a neurologist there.