Eric Dane‘s daughter Georgia and her friend rescued him from the water when he realized he could no longer swim. Now, his posthumous memoir reveals the call he made after that frightening moment during his ALS battle.

According to an excerpt PEOPLE published October 18, the rescue happened during a vacation in Antigua. Afterward, Georgia handed her father his phone so he could call his wife, Rebecca Gayheart.

“I can’t swim, Rebecca,” Dane recalled telling her. “I can’t swim.”

Then, the couple cried together as they faced another change the disease had brought. Once their tears slowed, Gayheart told him, “I was afraid of this day. I knew it would come. I’ve been dreading it.”

Meanwhile, My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments arrives November 3 through Maria Shriver‘s publishing imprint, The Open Field. Dane died February 19 at 53, less than a year after revealing his ALS diagnosis in April 2025.

Earlier, he noticed trouble using chopsticks while eating sushi with his children in January 2024. Three weeks later, the problem returned, and he could not grip them at all.

Beyond the rescue, the book follows his rise as Dr. Mark Sloan on Grey’s Anatomy and his struggles with addiction. However, his bond with Gayheart and their daughters, Georgia and Billie, runs through the story.

Although Gayheart filed for divorce in 2018, they continued raising their children together. In his account, Dane described her as his best friend and the person he called when he needed help.

Later, at Billie’s December ballet performance, he could no longer lift his arms to hug her. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him while they cried.

Despite those losses, Dane wanted his daughters to remember his determination, not only his illness. Finally, he left them this message, “Never give up. No matter what happens to you, fight until your last breath.”