Popular late-night host's 7-year-old son undergoes third open heart surgery

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel provided an update on his 7-year-old son Billy's health following Billy's third open heart surgery.

“This weekend, our boy Billy had his third (of three, we hope) open heart surgery,” Kimmel captioned the photo of Billy, 7, in a hospital bed. “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.”

“Thanks to those loving strangers who took time to pray for and send positive energy to our baby,” Kimmel added. “Thanks to our family and friends for rallying around us to an almost-ridiculous extent, thank you to my wife Molly for being stronger than is reasonable for any Mom to be and Billy, you are the toughest (and funniest) 7-year-old we know.”

In 2017, Kimmel gained significant attention when he emotionally recounted on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" the terrifying moment he discovered his son's heart defect.

"They did an echocardiogram, which is a sonogram of the heart, and found that Billy was born with a heart disease," Kimmel said on-air.

"The pulmonary valve was completely blocked, and he has a hole in the wall between the left and right sides of his heart," Kimmel said of the condition at the time.

Seven months later, after Billy's second heart surgery, Kimmel updated the public on his son's health and used the opportunity to advocate for affordable healthcare.

"No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child's life," Kimmel said on his show. "It just shouldn't happen. Not here."