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Jimmy Kimmel and his wife, Molly McNearney, welcomed a son on April 21st: William John Kimmel. They call him Billy. On Monday night’s show, Jimmy revealed that Billy was born with a congenital heart disease and required open heart surgery only four days after coming into the world. Although he tried to inject his trademark witticisms to offset the fear, Jimmy’s emotions understandably overtook him as he told the story.
Billy suffers from Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia which means the wall between his left and right sides of his heart has a hole in it in addition to a blocked pulmonary valve. It can appear to some as a simple heart murmur and go undetected, which proves fatal. Fortunately, Billy’s attending nurse thought his color was off and investigated immediately, which saved his life. As Jimmy said before he began his story – this has a happy outcome so don’t worry. It’s a rough ride getting to that happy ending but just know that Billy is – and will be – okay.
What part got to you the most? For me it was when he described standing in the room without his wife when the situation went from “okay” to “scary”. I was able to picture that in my mind’s eye as he said it. And then to think of what poor Molly must have gone through being wheeled into that room. If you haven’t watched it yet, Billy had the valve unblocked. In a few months, when he’s stronger, they will open his chest again to fix the holes in his heart’s wall. Jimmy scheduled Dr. Oz as a guest, who discussed the condition from which Billy suffers in depth and Shaun White, who had the same surgery as Billy and assured Jimmy, Billy would overcome it.
Jimmy brought the discussion around to the fact that #45 proposed $6 billion in cuts to the National Institute in Health and that, fortunately, Congress not only rejected those cuts but increased the budget by $2 billion. It’s in the clip but I think it’s a powerful enough point to reiterate:
“More than 40 percent of the people who would have been affected by those cuts to the National Institute of Health are children, and it would have a major impact on a lot of great places, which is so unbelievably sad to me. 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. You know, before 2014, if you were born with congenital heart disease like my son was, there’s a good chance you’d never be able to get health insurance because you had a pre-existing condition. You were born with a pre-existing condition. If your parents didn’t have medical insurance, you might not even live long enough to get denied because of your pre-existing condition. 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 Republican or a Democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right? We do. Whatever your party, whatever you believe, whoever you support, we need to make sure the people who are supposed to represent us understand that very clearly. Let’s stop with 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. I saw a lot of families there, and no parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child’s life. It just shouldn’t happen. Not here.”
Jimmy made sure to thank everyone involved. I was already ping-ponging emotionally when he mentioned our pediatrician – who is an amazing guy in every sense. I mean, I made him a character in my book – that’s how amazing I think he is. In a COMPLETE COINCIDENCE, my kids had their physicals yesterday. Seriously, even I won’t brave LA traffic for gossip, I’d booked the appointments months ago. So after we finished fawning over Dr. Superhero, I asked if he could get me tickets to Kimmel – just kidding. But apparently, the Kimmel-McNearney family is a lovely one and Jimmy talking about it as he is will bring so much awareness to the issue. That’s all the scoop I got… stupid ethical medical professionals.
As he mentions in the clip, if you would like to donate to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, please do so at CHLA.org/Donate or any hospital in your area that doesn’t turn families away based on income.
I am thankful to love and be loved by these two brave guys. Both criers. pic.twitter.com/NL0C3K3Q4E
— Molly McNearney (@mollymcnearney) May 2, 2017
Someone is angling to be Billy's godfather. https://t.co/6DonfAvWwH
— Molly McNearney (@mollymcnearney) May 2, 2017
$500 donation to @whca in the name of the reporter who asks @SeanSpicer about Jimmy Kimmel’s healthcare comments during tomorrow's briefing
— Lewis Kay (@lewiskay) May 2, 2017
Make it a grand https://t.co/kQRXD7lpw9
— Ike Barinholtz (@ikebarinholtz) May 2, 2017
on behalf of my family, thank you for the lovely and loving tweets about our son Billy and for your donations to https://t.co/HOIUvNt8WE XO
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) May 2, 2017
sincere thanks for the outpouring of love & support – Dr. Jane is keeping a close ear on Billy, who is very well – XO pic.twitter.com/QgSUminhmg
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) May 2, 2017
Photo credit: Twitter, Instagram and Getty Images
Source: celebitchy.com
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