Better Call Saul's Russell Andrews announces devastating ALS diagnosis

Russell Andrews has been delivered a life changing diagnosis and is battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, most commonly known as ALS.

The Better Call Saul actor appeared on CNN's The Story Is with Elex Michaelson, over the weekend alongside his actress fiancess, Erica Tazel. 

Russell, 64, said: "I am a person living with ALS. I was diagnosed in the late fall of last year. It's been humbling."

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He described the symptoms he suffered when he said: "I thought I had a stroke during COVID. It was a stressful time.

"There were moments there were twitches. There were things that I thought I was having pinched nerves in my neck and they were quite frequent," he explained. "

I was not able to do things that I normally do. I was dropping cups and glasses, and in the night, it felt like things were running up and down my arm at different times, and it was the nerves."

What is ALS?

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Mayo Clinic says ALS, "is a nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord."

The site continues: "ALS often begins with muscle twitching and weakness in an arm or leg, trouble swallowing, or slurred speech. Eventually ALS affects the muscles needed to move, speak, eat and breathe. There is no cure for this fatal disease, but research into new therapies is ongoing."

Managing the diagnosis

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Erica, 49, insists she will care for Russell and spoke about how they are managing the diagnosis together. 

"The processing is a process," she said. "When he originally shared with me, I say I was uncharacteristically calm. 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. For example, it took him longer to clean the pool. The way he walked, there was a subtle little [change] things like that. I had questions. I was like, 'Something is definitely wrong,' and so we now know what it was."

She added: "When he shared the news with me, again, 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.'"

Russell's announcement comes during ALS Awareness Month, which takes place during the month of May.