Patrick Dempsey (60) has spoken openly about his late mother Amanda's cancer diagnosis - and how her suffering motivated him to establish his own cancer center. In an interview with "Good Morning America", the Grey's Anatomy star described how difficult it was for him to watch his mother fight the disease for years.

'You feel really helpless. That was one of the last images I had with my mother,' the actor said, while a photo showing him with his mother was visible in the background.

Twelve relapses over the years

'She had twelve relapses. It was brutal,' Dempsey continued. 'It was very hard. About every two years it came back.' Despite this, his mother kept asking herself: 'Why did I survive and so many people I went through treatment with didn't?'

Until her death in 2014, she continued to volunteer despite her own illness, her son reported.

How the Dempsey Center came to be

It was precisely this attitude that ultimately inspired him to found the Dempsey Center - a nonprofit organization that provides cancer patients and their families with free, holistic support. 'You want to do something positive and have a positive impact. And you can start in your own community,' the 60-year-old explained. You don't have to change the entire world: 'If you just take care of your own community, you can make a big difference.'

It's particularly important to him not to leave those affected alone even after treatment. 'You go through treatment and then you're all alone - and that's exactly when healing needs to begin, that's when you need the emotional and mental support,' Dempsey said. From this, the idea was born: 'What can we do to make this journey easier for other families?'

How the loss shaped him as a father

Back in 2023, Dempsey had spoken on the podcast Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris about the burden of his mother's illness. At the time, he said she had 'survived much longer than expected.'

The loss, in his own words, also made him a better husband to his wife Jillian and father to his three children. 'You really put your family and your children first,' the actor said. 'The family as a unit is very important, and that makes me appreciate it all the more.'