Patrick Dempsey Reveals Details of Eric Dane’s Heartbreaking Last Days

Patrick Dempsey opened up about “Grey’s Anatomy” co-star Eric Dane and his final days on "The Chris Evans Breakfast Show" on Friday, February 20.

Patrick played Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd on the series, while Eric joined in Season 2 as Dr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan.

Dane, 53, had announced he was battling ALS in April of last year, and later said it was progressing rapidly.

Patrick shared, "I just woke up this morning and I was very sad to read the news. It is hard to put into words. I feel really so sad for his children. I was corresponding with him, we were texting, so I had spoken to him about a week ago.”

He went on, “Some friends of ours went in to see him and he was really losing his ability to speak, he was bedridden, and it was very hard for him to swallow, so his quality of his life was deteriorating rapidly.”

Dempsey wanted to remember the good times he had with Eric, sharing,  “He was the funniest man, he was such a joy other work with, and I want to remember him in that spirit. Any time he was on set, he brought so much fun to it. He had a great sense of humor. He was easy to work with — we got along instantly.”

Dane made an impression during his first “Grey’s” episode. Patrick shared, "First scene was him in all his glory coming out of the bathroom with a towel on looking amazing, making me feel completely out of shape and insignificant."

Chris asked, "Did you pick up your game after that?” Patrick insisted, "I had to!"

He went on, "We hit it off because it was never really any competition, it was just this wonderful mutual respect. He was wickedly intelligent and I am always going to remember those moments of fun that we had together and celebrate the joy that he did bring to people’s lives. The real loss is for us who don’t have him anymore."

Eric was very vocal about his battle with ALS. Patrick shared, "He did an incredible job at bringing awareness to this horrible disease in those remaining days, which was really brave of him to do. And it just reminds us that we have to celebrate every day like it’s our last day.”

Dempsey encouraged everyone to “be grateful for every moment that we have."