According to his dad, Billy Kimmel is “a happy, healthy kid” after successfully undergoing valve replacement surgery this weekend.
Billy, who was born with congenital heart disease, underwent two other open-heart surgeries shortly after his birth in 2017.
In an Instagram post Monday, Jimmy Kimmel expressed appreciation for the “hard-working” staff at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, thanking many of Billy’s doctors and nurses by name for their “immeasurable kindness and expertise.”
“We went into this experience with a lot of optimism and nearly as much fear, and came out with a new valve inside a happy, healthy kid,” wrote Kimmel. He went on to thank his wife, Molly McNearney, “for being stronger than is reasonable for any Mom to be,” and Billy himself, who he called “the toughest (and funniest) 7 year-old we know.”
Billy’s humor was on full display earlier this month when he let loose with a few choice four letter words after his parents picked up Jon Stewart, posing as a hitchhiker, and seated him between Billy and his sister Jane.
As he has before, Kimmel closed his instagram post with a pitch to those who are “so moved” to contribute to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles “or a great children’s hospital near you… Nothing matters more than taking care of each other.”
Billy was in the hospital for five nights, seemingly explaining why Jimmy Kimmel Live! scheduled a repeat last Thursday, and why it’s airing a new episode this Friday (which is usually a dark night for the show).
Expect Kimmel to address his son’s latest surgery when he returns to his show Wednesday night.
