Actor Russell Andrews announced he has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
“I am a person living with ALS,” the “Better Call Saul” actor revealed alongside his fiancée, Erica Tazel, on CNN’s “The Story Is with Elex Michaelson” on Saturday.
“I was diagnosed in the late fall of last year,” he added of the nervous system disease, which affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, per Mayo Clinic.
Andrews, 64, said he and Tazel found a great community within the 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,” the “Straight Outta Compton” star added.
Andrews said he began noticing symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic but he initially thought he was suffering from a stroke.
“It was a stressful time. We didn’t work for three years, about, and then we had the back-to-back strikes and so a lot was going on,” he said, referring to the 2023 actors’ strike.
“I was not able to do things that I normally do. I was dropping cups and glasses at night. It felt like things were running up and down my arm at different times and it was the nerves,” Andrews recalled, adding that he would also feel occasional “twitches.”
Tazel said she noticed something was wrong when it took her fiancé longer to clean the pool.
“The way he walked, there was just the subtle little things like that and I had questions. I was like, ‘Something is definitely wrong,’” the “Justified” actress, 49, shared.
Andrews said he temporarily lost his insurance during the strike but once he was covered again, he immediately went to see a doctor.
“Within 15 minutes, the primary care [physician] said she would like me to see a neurologist,” he remembered. “One thing led to another.”
Despite there being no cure for Andrews’ diagnosis, Tazel — who has become the actor’s caretaker — is still willing to exchange vows.
“[There] was not a sigh of relief, but some understanding of what was happening. And I looked at him across the room and I said, ‘At least now we know what it is, and I still want to be your wife,’” she recalled.
