Jimmy Kimmel Celebrates Son's Birthday After Year of Surgeries

After a year of battling health complications, Jimmy Kimmel's youngest son William got to [...]

By Connor Casey

After a year of battling health complications, Jimmy Kimmel's youngest son William got to celebrate his first birthday on Sunday.

The Jimmy Kimmel Live! host posted a photo of his young son at his birthday party, complete with balloons, a party hat and bowtie.

"A [year] ago today, God gave us this tough little boy. Today, we thank the nurses & doctors at [Cedars Sinai] & [Children's Hospital LA] who saved his life & those who shared thoughts & prayers.

Kimmel's wife, Molly McNearney also took to social media to share an image of herself kissing young "Billy.

"One year ago I push this little fighter into the world. He's taught me true strength and joy. We promise to keep fighting for kids like you, sweet Billy. Thank God for this light," she wrote.

William, the second child of the couple, was born with Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia, a rare heart defect that caused him to turn purple just three hours after being born, forcing him to undergo open-heart surgery at just three days old. The child was forced to have another heart surgery in December, but has made a full recovery from both.

Ever since his son's birth, Kimmel has promoted health care reform on his late night series and spoke out against the several health care reform bills put forward by the Trump Administration.

"According to polls I've seen, it has cost me commercially," Kimmel said during an interview with O Magazine. "That's not ideal, but I wouldn't change anything I said."

"I know my job is, for the most part, to entertain people and make them laugh," he continued. "That said, if I can be selfish every once in a while and talk about something serious that's important to me, then I do want to take that opportunity. But I don't want to abuse my position. I pick my battles. Ninety percent of the time, I'll joke around, but some of the jokes, I hope, make people think."

During his interview with Oprah Winfrey, Kimmel said he had learned so much in the past year.

"It taught me what's really important," Kimmel said. "It taught me that I have a much more powerful platform than I realized. And it taught me that in times like these, we're supposed to care for each other. The basic teachings of Jesus say that you must take care of your neighbor. I hope that people who call themselves Christians remember that every day."

Kimmel's political stance has led him to catch the ire of certain political pundits. He most recently had a back and forth spat with Fox News' Sean Hannity after making a joke about First Lady Melania Trump on his show. After the two traded verbal jabs on each other's shows, Kimmel apologized for referring to Hannity as an "ass clown."

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