Last week, Jimmy Kimmel Live was unexpectedly all re-runs as Kimmel welcomed his newborn son William “Billy” Kimmel into the world. On Monday, Kimmel returned to the stage and revealed the news that little Billy Kimmel, at three days old, had to undergo open heart surgery at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Thankfully, the youngest Kimmel is recovering, and this week, Jimmy is taking his paternity leave as his friends take over the show for him. But, it could’ve gone far worse if not for the doctors and nurses who saved Billy’s life.
The extremely emotional segment had Kimmel’s eyes welling up with tears and his voice cracking as he describes a nightmare scenario for a parent: Billy’s heart had a murmur, which isn’t out of the ordinary for a newborn, but the nurse also noticed that his skin was a bit purple, which led to doctors scrambling to figure out what was wrong.
“They determined he wasn’t getting enough oxygen into his blood. They did an x-ray, which meant his lungs were fine but his heart was not. My wife is in the recovery room, she has no idea what’s going on, and I’m standing in the middle of a lot of very worried looking people who are trying to figure out what the problem is.
Basically, the pulmonary valve was completely blocked and he has a hole in the wall on the left and right side of his heart.”
This led to Billy getting open heart surgery on Monday, which was able to fix some of his issues, and Billy is recovering. But, he still has an uphill battle. In three to six months, Billy will need to have another open heart surgery to close the holes in his heart. Then, when he’s in his teens, he will have a (hopefully) non-invasive procedure to replace the current valve in his heart.
Kimmel then showed a heartbreaking picture of his son, hooked up to what seems like an infinite number of tubes.
Ever the comedian, Kimmel knows timing, so he followed it up with this heartwarming picture of the good-lookin’ dude after the surgery:
On what is, unfortunately, an unavoidable political note, Jimmy Kimmel had to explain that his newborn son’s heart condition would’ve made him uninsurable before Obamacare. “No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child’s life,” Kimmel said, explaining that Trump’s proposed cuts to healthcare would’ve left his son, and so many other children, without proper care. Specifically, people like his son, who was born with a condition. A pre-existing one.
“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 that whether you’re a democrat or republican or something else — we all agree on that. We need to make sure that people who are supposed to represent us that are meeting about this right now in Washington understand that very clearly. Let’s stop with the nonsense, this isn’t football there are no teams. We are the team. We are 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.”
Kimmel is suggesting that anyone who wants to help support Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, should do so, as they helped save his son’s life, and countless other children.
While Kimmel is away, Will Arnett will host Tuesday’s show, while Anthony Anderson will take Wednesday night, Kristen Bell is on Thursday, and finally, David Spade will host Friday.
Oh yeah, Kimmel had to do it: “Even that son of a bitch Matt Damon sent flowers.”
