Actor Russell Andrews, whose credits include “Better Call Saul,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Insecure,” said over the weekend that he has been diagnosed with ALS.
Andrews, 64, revealed the diagnosis Saturday on CNN’s “The Story Is with Elex Michaelson.” Speaking slowly, he explained that last fall, when he was diagnosed with the neurological disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, he felt overwhelming support.
“It’s been humbling,” Andrews softly said during the interview. “But there’s also something in the fact that I walked into a family of very caring people, people I did not know a year ago.”
While the diagnosis was recent, Andrews said he might have first started feeling ALS symptoms back in Covid-19 before they progressed to affect simple motor skill functions.
“There were moments, there were twitches, there were things I thought I was having pinched nerves in my neck and they were quite frequent,” Andrews said. “Then I was not able to do things that I normally do. I was dropping cups and glasses and at night it felt like things were running up and down my arm at different times.”
Andrews’ fiancée, fellow actor Erica Tazel, told CNN that she was “uncharacteristically calm” when she learned about the diagnosis that didn’t come as a surprise.
“In a way, it was an answer to a lot of questions that we had. There were certain things that we started to see that were different,” Tazel said. “For example, it took him 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.’”
Even with tough times ahead, Tazel said she and Andrews still plan to get married.
“When he shared the news with me, again, there was not a sigh of relief, but some understanding of what was happening,” Tazel said. “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.’”
