Jimmy Kimmel Reveals Son's Heart Surgery

From Cosmopolitan

Jimmy Kimmel delivered an emotional and bittersweet opening monologue on Monday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. Fighting back tears, the host revealed that he and his wife Molly McNearney welcomed a baby boy, William “Billy” Kimmel, on April 21.

“We call him Billy, it was an easy delivery, six pushes he was out, and he appeared a normal, healthy baby until about three hours after he was born ... My wife was in bed relaxing when a very attentive nurse at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, her name is Nanoush, was checking him out and heard a murmur in his heart, which is common with newborn babies. But she also noticed he was a bit purple, which was not common.”

He followed the nurse and his newborn son to the neonatal ICU, where more doctors and nurses gathered to assess Billy’s condition. “It’s a terrifying thing. My wife is in the recovery room. She has no idea what’s going on. I’m standing in the middle of a lot of very worried-looking people, kind of like right now, who are trying to figure out what the problem is,” he continued. A visit with a pediatric cardiologist and one echocardiogram later, Billy was diagnosed with a heart disease called tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia. He underwent open-heart surgery, which was a success, at Children’s Hospital L.A. “It was the longest three hours of my life,” Kimmel said.

Billy, who finally got to go home after six days of recovery, will need another operation in three to six months, Kimmel explained. The support, he added, has been overwhelming: “Every one of my friends was there 100 percent. We had atheists praying for us, OK? We had people who do not believe in God praying to him. And I hate to even say, but even that son-of-a-bitch Matt Damon sent flowers.”

Before wrapping up the monologue, Kimmel reminded viewers of the privileged position he found himself in during his son’s medical ordeal. He took a dig at Trump, praised the Affordable Care Act, and acknowledged the tragedy of what millions of Americans would have to deal with without ACA's protection of patients with pre-existing conditions. “We were brought up to believe that we live in the greatest country in the world, but until a few years ago, millions and millions of us had no access to health insurance at all ... Before 2014, if you were born with a congenital heart disease like my son was, there was a good chance you would never be able to get health insurance because you had a pre-existing condition. You were born with a pre-existing condition, and if your parents didn’t have medical insurance, you might not even live long enough to get denied because of a pre-existing condition.”

He continued, “If your baby is going to die, and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make. I think that’s something now, whether you’re a Republican or Democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right?” He called for a stop to the nonsense. “This isn’t football. There are no teams. We are the team, it’s the United States. Don’t let their partisan squabbles divide us on something every decent person wants. We need to take care of each other. No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child’s life. It just shouldn’t happen. Not here.”

Kimmel's message caught the attention of Hillary Clinton, who shared the video on Twitter on Tuesday morning:

Hollywood has also been showering the host on social media after last night's episode:

His wife Molly also shared a sweet photo of Billy on Twitter:

Kimmel will be out for the rest of this week. In his place will be Will Arnett, Anthony Anderson, Kristen Bell, and David Spade.

Follow Peggy on Twitter and follow Cosmo Celeb on Facebook.

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