VIDEO: Jimmy Kimmel’s Newborn Son’s Heart Condition

On April 21st, Jimmy Kimmel and his wife, Molly, welcomed their second child, Billy, into the world. Sadly, it wasn’t long before the nurses noticed the child had both a heart murmur and a purple hue to his skin. It turned out that Billy had a congenital heart disease and needed immediate surgery, which lasted three hours. The talk show host explained it all to his audience, choking up multiple times while recounting the tale.

Read the full story below, provided by scarymommy.com.

A sick child is every parent’s worst nightmare. A sick baby is nothing short of terrifying. Childbirth is harrowing enough already, but when the newborn shows signs of struggle, the panic and fear and helplessness can be overwhelming.

Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel knows that first-hand, and was clearly still feeling the impact of the experience when he tearfully told the story of his new son’s congenital heart disease.

On April 21st, Jimmy Kimmel and his wife Molly welcomed their second child, Billy, and at first everything seemed fine. It wasn’t long before the nurses noticed the child had both a heart murmur and a purple hue to his skin, and doctors were called in.

It turned out that Billy had a congenital heart disease and required immediate surgery. The comedian explained it all to his audience on Monday night, choking up multiple times while recounting the tale, which included a three-hour open heart surgery on the hours-old infant.

That Friday night, Kimmel said, “was the longest three-hours of my life.”

After sharing the tale, Kimmel spends a few minutes thanking the delivery staff of both the Cedars Sinai Hospital for the quick diagnosis and the doctors and nurses at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for their quick response and the successful operation. Billy isn’t entirely out of the woods, as he’ll need another surgery in a few months, when he’s bigger, and one more in his early teens.

At one point, the host shared a photo of his son a few days after surgery, and it’s hard to see his skin for all the bandages and tubes covering his tiny body.

But Kimmel quickly followed that photo up with a picture of his smiling, healthy son, lightening the mood with his affable, self-deprecating humor.

“Poor kid, not only did he get a bad heart, he got my face.”

Kimmel and his wife took their new baby home just six days after the surgery, and despite the terrifying weekend, Billy has recovered well. “He’s doing great. He’s eating, he’s sleeping, he peed on his mother today while she was changing his diaper. He’s doing all the things he’s supposed to do.”

Thankfully, Jimmy will be taking the rest of the week off for paternity leave. It was incredibly brave of him to share such a personal story at such an emotional time, and making a plea for other children who could suffer if we allow people with pre-existing conditions to once again be shunned by insurance companies.

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