Billy is doing better. Jimmy Kimmel opened up to Us Weekly about his baby boy’s health while at an L.A benefit for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation on Saturday, September 9.
Kimmel, who attended the benefit with his wife, Molly McNearney, and two of his children, joked that the event was Billy’s first red carpet appearance. “Billy is doing well. He’s right there!” the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host told Us. “He’s got to have another operation soon, but he’s doing well.”
“He seems to be strong,” Kimmel added. “He pulls hair, that’s for sure!”
The Emmy award winner also shared why he attended the event to support Alex’s Lemonade, which raises funds for research into new treatments and cures for childhood cancer.
“Alex’s Lemonade is a great charity. There’s a great story behind it. It really was started by a little girl, not by a group of adults. Sadly she passed away, so her parents carried on this tradition. And now, really, the greatest chefs in the United States gather to do these events,” the father of four told Us.
As previously reported, an emotional Kimmel, 49, revealed on his show in May that Billy had to undergo open heart surgery shortly after he was born on April 21. According to Kimmel, three hours after the baby’s birth, doctors noticed that the infant had a heart murmur and appeared purple in color. It was diagnosed as “tetralogy of fallot with pulmonary atresia,” which is when the pulmonary valve is blocked and there is a hole in the heart wall.
“On Monday morning, Dr. Vaughn Starnes opened his chest and fixed one of the two defects in his heart. He went in there with a scalpel and did some kind of magic that I couldn’t even begin to explain,” Kimmel said during the 13-minute monologue. “He opened the valve, and the operation was a success. It was the longest three hours of my life.”
“Billy is 3 months old & doing great,” the late-night TV host also tweeted in July. “Thx for the love & support. Please remind your Congresspeople that every kid deserves the care he got.”
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