Jimmy Kimmel Opens Up About Son’s Congenital Heart Disease

Jimmy Kimmel has shared the news that his son was diagnosed with congenital heart disease. He explained the situation on his show Monday night.

“They found that Billy was born with, um, a heart disease. Uh…something called Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia. It’s hard to explain. Basically, the pulmonary valve was completely blocked. And he has a hole in the wall between the left and right sides of his heart.”

He went on to explain that the baby had safely undergone his first round of surgeries, then brought out guest Shaun White who was born with the same condition.

“When we were told that this operation was going to be happening. everyone said, ‘Shaun White had this. Shaun White had this.’ So then I thought, ‘Oh no, my son’s going to be a snowboarder.'”

Jimmy asked Shaun about any limitations he’d had because of it.

“My parents are the ones that really made me who I am. Obviously, they didn’t put these limitations on me…they really let me find my own limitations.”