Jimmy Kimmel Tearfully Recounts Newborn Son’s Heart Surgery

Jimmy Kimmel during a shoot in Los Angeles on 11 April. (Photo: AP)

On Tuesday night, a tearful Jimmy Kimmel turned his show's monologue into an emotional recounting of his newborn son's open-heart surgery, weaved in with a plea that all American families be provided access to life-saving medical care.

"It was a scary story and before I go into it, I want you to know it has a happy ending," Kimmel assured ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live studio audience as he went into detail about how the birth of his child took a frightening turn.

Several hours after his wife, Molly, gave birth to a boy, a nurse alerted the couple and doctors to the baby's purple-ish color and an apparent heart murmur, the host said. It was soon discovered that the newborn wasn’t getting enough oxygen due to a heart problem

I was surrounded at the hospital by very worried-looking people, "kind of like right now," Kimmel told the audience, one of the jokes he managed to slip in, despite choking up and having to pause at times.

Kimmel later took to Facebook and posted a picture of his wife, daughter and newborn son, William John Kimmel, thanking everyone for their support.

Former President Barack Obama took to social media, retweeting Kimmel and hailing the benefits of the Affordable Care Act.

Kimmel said he would skip the rest of this week's shows to be with his family.

(With inputs from AP.)