5 Facts To Know About The Heart Condition Plaguing Jimmy Kimmel's Son
This is a story with a happy ending. Late night TV show host Jimmy Kimmel reassured the audience and at-home viewers of that as he began to tell the very scary story of realizing his newborn had a heart problem.
Baby William John Kimmel, or Billy, was born last week and “...he appeared to be a normal, healthy baby, until about three hours after he was born,” Kimmel says.
He goes on to explain that a very attentive nurse at the Cedars Sinai hospital heard a murmur while listening to the baby’s heart, which is common, but also noticed that Billy was slightly purple, which is not common.
Kimmel says that his son wasn’t getting enough oxygen into his blood, which doctors thought was most likely due to his heart or lungs. “And you hope it’s the lungs because sometimes they have fluid in them after delivery and it’s potentially a minor thing,” he says.
An X-ray revealed that Billy’s lungs were fine. “It’s a terrifying thing,” Kimmel recalls. “You know, my wife is back in the recovery room. She has no idea what’s going on, and I’m standing in the middle of a lot of very worried-looking people, kind of like right now, trying to find out what the problem is.”
An Echocardiogram showed that Kimmel’s hours-old baby was born with Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia.
“It’s hard to explain,” Kimmel says of the birth defect. “Basically the pulmonary valve was completely blocked and he has a hole in the wall between the left and right sides of his heart.”
Read:Why Sunshine And Exercise Might Be The Best Way To Ward Off Heart Attacks
What exactly is Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia? According to the Boston Children’s Hospital, babies born with this actually have five different heart abnormalities. These include:
Ventricular septal defect
As the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute explains, the septum separates the left and right heart chambers to ensure that the blood doesn’t mix. With VSD, a hole in the septum allows the left’s oxygen-rich blood to mix with the right’s oxygen poor blood. This throws off the whole process and allows some oxygen-rich blood to go to the lungs instead of the body.
Overriding aorta
Typically, the aorta is attached to the left ventricle, which is essential to regulating the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the body. However, with this condition, the aorta is instead situated in the middle of the ventricles, which causes oxygen-poor blood to bypass the pulmonary artery (where it’s supposed to go).
Enlarged right ventricle
Because your heart is working much harder, the right heart ventricle grows thicker than those found in healthy hearts.
Complete pulmonary obstruction
Children born with this condition have no pulmonary valve at all, writes the Boston Children’s Hospital. This means that your lungs have a harder time getting blood as the right ventricle has no direct pathway to the organ.
Abnormal pulmonary arteries
As the heart attempts to get blood into the lungs,the arteries may develop abnormally, however, this varies.
Tetralogy of Fallot with Pulmonary Atresia is typically diagnosed quickly and can be spotted by the telltale blue tint, like in Kimmel’s case.
As for Billy, his dad explains that an operation to fix his heart was a success. “He went in there with a scalpel and did some kind of magic I couldn't even begin to explain,” Kimmel says of the surgeon. “It was the longest three hours of my life.”
The family was finally able to bring their newest member home six days after the surgery.
“He’s doing great,” Kimmel says. “He’s eating, he’s sleeping, he peed on his mother today while she was changing his diaper. He’s doing all the things he’s supposed to do.”
See Also:
Heart Attack, Stroke Rates Lower In Places With Trans Fat Bans, Study Says
