Jimmy Kimmel’s son Billy, 7, undergoes third open-heart surgery

Jimmy Kimmel He has good news to share: His 7-year-old son, Billy, underwent a third successful open-heart surgery over Memorial Day weekend.

“We went into this experience very optimistic and almost equally terrified and came out with a new valve as a happy, healthy child,” Kimmel, 56, revealed. Instagram Monday, May 27th.

The late-night TV host posted a photo of Billy smiling in his hospital bed and thanked his son’s surgeon. Vaughn StearnsCardiologist Tim CasaresHe thanked the nurses and other staff at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for their “immeasurable kindness and expertise.”

“Walking through this hospital and seeing the most vulnerable parents, the children in pain, and the miracle workers doing everything in their power to save them has been a humbling experience,” Kimmel continued in the caption, adding, “Thank you to the loving strangers who took the time to pray for our baby and send positive energy. Thank you to my family and friends who have supported us like ridiculous. Thank you to my wife too.”[[Molly McNearney]Thank you for being an unusually strong mom for any mom, and Billy, you’re the toughest (and funniest) 7-year-old we know.”

“There are so many parents and children who will not be able to go home after five days. Please share your love, your hearts and your prayers with them and support them if you feel moved,” Kimmel added. Children’s LA…or your local great children’s hospital (@CMNHospitals). Nothing is more important than caring for one another.”

The 2024 Academy Awards host detailed the health issues facing McNearny, 46, since giving birth to Billy in April 2017. Kimmel said Jimmy Kimmel Live! next month In an emotional monologue It was revealed that Billy was born with a rare congenital heart defect.

Billy’s official diagnosis was “tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia,” a condition in which the pulmonary valves were blocked and a hole was created in his heart. Three hours after he was born, his face began to turn purple and doctors noticed a heart murmur.

“Dr. Vaughn Stearns opened up his chest and fixed one of the two defects in his heart. He went in there with a scalpel and worked magic that I can’t explain,” Kimmel said at the time. “He opened the valve and the surgery was successful. It was the longest three hours of my life.”

Kimmel and McNearney Shared with daughter Jane9. He also has a daughter, Katie, 32, and a son, Kevin, 30, with his ex-wife. Gina Kimmel.

Two years after Billy’s first surgery, Kimmel Said Us Weekly He is “doing very well” and behaving like a normal kid, they said.

“He thinks he’s Spider-Man, so we’re safe from crime,” Kimmel joked in 2019. “He’s always wearing that costume. He’s spreading spider webs all over the house.”