On the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? set, late-night TV personality Jimmy Kimmel gave a status report on the health of his son Billy.
Jimmy is quite busy with the game show and his popular talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!, but in a recent interview, he gave Billy his whole attention.
Billy recently had his third open heart surgery procedure; the first one was performed when he was just three days old. Billy also recently celebrated his seventh birthday.
Jimmy’s First Disclosure of His Son’s Condition Caused Him to Go Viral
One could characterize Jimmy Kimmel’s humor as frequently caustic, which heightens the impact of his genuine emotional moments.
During a monologue in early 2017, Jimmy broke down in tears as he revealed that his then-newborn kid had been diagnosed with a heart issue.
That year’s May 1st, ET reported:
“On April 21, 2017, Kimmel’s baby was born. A nurse noted that he was “purple,” and physicians determined that he had a cardiac abnormality within a few hours of the birth. Billy had open heart surgery at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles when he was three days old.
“We got to bring him home six days after [Billy’s first] open-heart surgery, which was amazing,” Kimmel remarked, adding that Billy will eventually need two more heart procedures.
“He’s doing fantastically. He is napping and eating. Today, as his mother was changing his diaper, he urinates on her. He is carrying out all of his obligations.”
Billy’s first surgery was one of three, according to Kimmel at the time, and following the second procedure in December 2017, he brought his son to the set:
“Jimmy’s baby Billy had his second open-heart surgery” in late 2017, the description box for the video above stated, and it was a success.
The presenter expressed gratitude to “the bright and talented doctors and nurses at Children’s Hospital LA,” mentioning “one more surgery when [Billy] is around six years old, and then he is good to go.”
Jimmy also used the success of the video to draw attention to other underprivileged kids, saying:
“Yet, the battle is far from done for the millions of children whose health is currently in jeopardy since Congress recently failed to authorize money for the CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program), a program designed to safeguard them.
This is not a political matter. Up until now, it has always had the overwhelming backing of both Democrats and Republicans. It is now employed as a negotiating tool. Jimmy is urging everyone to contact the House and Senate at (202) 225-3121 in order to request that they pause their tax cut plans and immediately fully fund CHIP.
Jimmy Declared That Billy’s Third Open-heart Surgery Went Well
Jimmy talked to ET about juggling his hectic work with his family before discussing Billy’s recent operation, joking, “Yeah you know what I do, I just cut out all the family time, I ignore my children.”
As Kimmel started to discuss Billy’s recuperation, it was evident that he was being sarcastic. He said as much, starting with:
Billy is progressing well. It’s absurd that despite having open heart surgery and having scars everywhere, he is mentally back where he was. Although we will need to use caution around him for a few months due to his physical condition, he is doing incredibly well.”
Jimmy mentioned that Billy’s recovery was attributed by the physicians to children’s “resilience.”
Children are often described as being resilient, like they’re made of rubber. People commonly say kids bounce back easily from things. Doctors have explained to me—something that hadn’t occurred to me before—that this physical resilience is due to their ongoing growth.
On May 27th, Jimmy posted a photo on Instagram showing Billy in the hospital, stating: “We approached this situation with hope and some fear, but we emerged with a new valve and a happy, healthy child.”
(Source)
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