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Russell Andrews has been diagnosed with ALS, a neurodegenerative disease also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
The 64-year-old actor, known for his roles in Straight Outta Compton and Better Call Saul, shared that he was diagnosed with the fatal disease publicly for the first time on CNN’s The Story Is with Elex Michaelson on Saturday, May 16. He made the announcement alongside his fiancée, actress Erica Tazel.
“I am a person living with ALS,” Andrews told Michaelson while seated beside Tazel, who CNN reported will be taking on the role of caregiver.
ALS destroys nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing muscle weakness, slurred speech and eventual paralysis, per the Mayo Clinic. There's no cure for ALS, and people usually live three to five years after diagnosis, according to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. However, some patients can live decades.
“I was diagnosed in the late fall of last year,” Andrews said on The Story, before sharing the community he and Tazel have found with nonprofit ALS Network. “And it's been humbling but there's… Elex, there's also something in the fact that I walked into a family of very caring people I did not know a year ago — the cliché family, but they have not let us miss a step in terms of care, the attention, the awareness and the ability to get me here today.”
Asked about his symptoms, Andrews revealed that initially, he thought he suffered a stroke during the COVID pandemic, and he shared some of the early signs he might have had ALS.