Jimmy Kimmel took to social media to share that his son had his third open-heart surgery over Memorial Day weekend. The comedian expressed heartfelt gratitude to his son, family, and everyone involved in his son Billy’s surgery.
“This weekend, our boy Billy had his third (of three, we hope) open heart surgery,” Kimmel captioned a photo of his son in the hospital on Instagram. “We went into this experience with a lot of optimism and nearly as much fear and came out with a new valve inside a happy, healthy kid.”
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! and the 2024 Academy Awards host commended the team at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for the exceptional care they provided to his son Billy.
“Walking around this hospital, meeting parents at their most vulnerable, children in pain and the miracle workers who do everything in their considerable power to save them is a humbling experience,” Kimmel continued.
“We hope you never need CHLA, but if you do – know that they help families regardless of their ability to pay, thanks largely to the Affordable Care Act (another salute to the late Senator John McCain), generous donations from companies like Disney, which I am proud to work for and especially from generous people like you.”
Kimmel also gave a hat tip to fans, thanking “loving strangers who took time to pray for and send positive energy to our baby.”
“Thank you to my wife Molly for being stronger than is reasonable for any Mom to be. Billy, you are the toughest (and funniest) 7-year-old we know,” he wrote of his family. “There are so many parents and children who aren’t fortunate enough to go home after five days.”
Jimmy Kimmel First Disclosed His Son’s Heart Condition on His Show in 2017
Kimmel first shared in 2017, during an emotional monologue on Jimmy Kimmel Live, that his son Billy underwent his initial open-heart surgery just three days after birth.
The comedian revealed to the audience that his son suffered from a congenital heart condition known as Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia. “Basically, the pulmonary valve was completely blocked. He has a hole in the wall between the left and right sides of his heart,” a visibly distraught Kimmel explained.
However, levity clearly helped Jimmy Kimmel get through his son’s condition. “Poor kid. Not only did he get a bad heart, he got my face,” Kimmel quipped at the time.