All the while, the California-born actor’s condition was growing worse.
When he announced his diagnosis, he said he would be returning to the set of HBO’s Euphoria the following week.
Two months later, he said he had lost the use of his right arm and predicted that “maybe a couple, few more months and I won’t have my left hand either”.
He had first noticed symptoms – a weakness in his right hand – just over a year prior, he told ABC’s Good Morning America.
Following the news of his death late on Thursday, his Grey’s Anatomy co-star Patrick Dempsey said Dane’s “quality of life was deteriorating so rapidly”.
“He was bedridden and it was very hard for him to swallow,” he told Virgin Radio, adding that Dane had been losing his ability to speak.
According to Talbot, the condition affects individuals differently – but “long survivors” are rare.
“ALS is a very aggressive disorder,” he said. “10% of affected people die within the first year, 50% within two-and-a-half years and 90% by five years.”
ALS has a fairly consistent way of behaving, he said: “If progression is slow at the beginning, then it usually continues that way.”
The clinician added that the condition cannot currently be detected until the patient has started developing weakness – at which point there has been “irreversible loss” of nerve cells in the brain and spine.
“When patients arrive in a neurology clinic they have used up their internal reserve capacity, so the progression of weakness is often rapid.”