Jimmy Kimmel bravely opened up about his newborn son's open heart surgery earlier this week, praising Children's Hospital Los Angeles for their treatment and urging fans to send in donations to the medical facility. Now it seems that they have been inundated with calls and donations. 

Jimmy Kimmel with his wife at Oscar partyJimmy Kimmel with his wife at Oscar party

Fans were reduced to tears by Jimmy's story this week when he explained how his son William 'Billy' John Kimmel was found to have a heart disease called Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia when he was born on April 21st 2017. Luckily for him, he underwent surgery at the nearby Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and is now making a remarkable recovery.

'This is some place', Jimmy said of the hospital. 'I hope you never have to go there but if you do, you'll see so many kids from so many financial backgrounds, being cared for so well and with so much compassion.' He then went on to publicise the hospital website's donation page, after which the CHLA received an overwhelming amount of support.

'We have had several hundred calls to the hospital, our heart institute, from former patients thanking us for care and from donors inspired by Jimmy's message', CHLA CEO Paul Viviano told People. 'Our caregivers - the nurses and physicians that Jimmy talked about, that team - of course, it's very reaffirming for them. It's not every day when someone on national television talks about a wonderful outcome under some challenging circumstances.'

Jimmy also thanked the staff at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, where Billy was born, and in particular the nurse who noticed that there was something wrong in the first place. '[The nurse] was checking him out and heard a murmur in his heart, which is common with newborn babies, but she also noticed he was a bit purple which is not common', he had said. 'My wife and I assumed it would be nothing - our daughter [2-year-old Jane] had a heart murmur too - and we didn't notice that he wasn't the colour he was supposed to be.' 

More: Jimmy Kimmel talks about his newborn son's open heart surgery

Billy will have to have another operation in 3 to 6 months followed by a third procedure when he is a teenager.