'Ride this till the wheels fall off': Eric Dane shares why he won't stop working despite devastating diagnosis

Actor Eric Dane has no plans to slow down on work despite being diagnosed with motor neurone disease earlier this year.

The 52-year-old actor revealed that he's not going to give up his career in an interview with E! News.

"I'm going to ride this till the wheels fall off," he told the outlet.

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"It keeps me sharp. It keeps me moving forward, which is super important right now."

Dane, who is best known for his role playing Dr. Mark "McSteamy" Sloan on Grey's Anatomy from 2006 - 2012, is set to return to screens soon alongside Jensen Ackles in Countdown.

"I feel great when I'm at work," he continued.

"Of course, there have been some sort of setbacks, but I feel pretty good. My spirit is always pretty buoyant, so at the end of the day, that's all that matters."

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The actor recently opened up about how he has been coping since the diagnosis during an emotional interview with Good Morning America.

"I will never forget those three letters (MND). It's on me the second I wake up," he said of finding out what was going on with him.

Dane said he first noticed some weakness in his right hand, but didn't think anything of it at the time.

"A few weeks later I noticed it had gotten a little worse, so I went and saw a hand specialist who sent me to another hand specialist," he explained.

"I went and saw a neurologist who sent me to another neurologist who said this is way above my pay grade."

In the months since his diagnosis he's already started to see dramatic changes to his body.

"My left side is functioning, my right side has completely stopped working," he said.

"I feel like maybe a couple, few more months, and I won't have my left hand [functioning] either," he added.

While he can still walk now, he is worried about the functionality of his legs.

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The actor went public with his diagnosis of MND, which is also known as ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, in April.

According to the Mayo Clinic, it is "a nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord".

The disease is a rare and incurable condition that progressively weakens muscles and affects physical function. The exact cause is not known and there is currently no cure.

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