Gayheart said the family did not know his February admission to the hospital would be his last. Dane had been hospitalized often before, and the stay began like the others. By the third day, she said, the tone of the doctors' communication had changed, and "everything shifted." Dane stayed mentally aware and communicative while he lost his physical abilities, and he decided the course of his own end-of-life care. Gayheart described him as "in control of the way he was going to leave."

She and their daughters, Billie and Georgia, held sleepovers in his hospital room. They brought battery-operated candles and played his favorite music. Gayheart said that when she first learned of the diagnosis, her immediate thought was of the girls. He had told her first.

Gayheart and Dane married in 2004. She filed for divorce in 2018, and it was never finalized; she withdrew the filing after his diagnosis because of his health. They had been separated for more than eight years, and both had other partners. She said standing by him was "not even a question," and that the family went through the illness "as a family." Dane stayed close to her, co-parented with her and spoke with her every day until he died.

Gayheart called the illness "a gift and a curse." It took his life, she said, and it also relieved the mental anguish he had lived with all his life. Dane had earlier been diagnosed with multifocal motor neuropathy before the ALS diagnosis. In the memoir he wrote that his first symptom was struggling to use chopsticks.

The book was co-written with Alan Eisenstock and published through Shriver's imprint, The Open Field. Shriver said Dane worked on it "right up to the end." It covers his illness, his early career, addiction, family life and his bond with Gayheart. Gayheart said she hopes it helps fans see him "beyond McSteamy," the "Grey's Anatomy" character he played.

Dane kept working after his diagnosis, including on NBC's "Brilliant Minds" and as Cal Jacobs in the third season of "Euphoria," which premiered April 12. He also became an advocate for ALS awareness. The ALS Association says there is no known cure, though FDA-approved medications can slow its progression.

Gayheart said the daughters find comfort in what she called "implausible moments": hummingbirds, spiders or dragonflies appearing, or a song their father loved coming on in the car. Grief is not linear, she said, and she misses his presence as the girls grow up.