Fox’s Bret Baier Thanks Supporters After His Teenage Son’s Emergency Heart Surgery: ‘A Lot Can Change In a Matter of Five Hours’

@BretBaier on Instagram

Fox News anchor Bret Baier has been away from the news desk while his teenage son underwent emergency open-heart surgery last week.

Baier shared images of his 16-year-old son Paul — whom he shares with wife Amy Baier — on Instagram and Twitter/X, adding that this was his fifth heart surgery since he was a newborn. Baier told People Magazine about their family’s latest ordeal, which began as a cold and took a frightening turn after a precautionary chest x-ray revealed something much more dangerous:

The MRI comes back, and they sit me down and say, “This is a really big deal. This is an aneurysm the size of a golf ball that has formed off of his heart.” And they didn’t know whether it might burst, but if it did, it might have been fatal in a matter of minutes.

Paul, who was born with five congenital heart defects, was told by his father that he needed to have open-heart surgery the next morning. The surgery was a success, and People reports that it should be his final such procedure.

Baier expressed his gratitude for the well-wishes he received: “I’m so grateful to have the community I have, and to have my life. A lot can change in a matter of five hours.”

When he was inducted into the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans last month, Baier discussed his son’s ordeal during his speech: “Everybody has something. This was our something. And getting through that, over that open heart surgery and three others, ten angioplasties — it was a big, big challenge. Today his heart is pumping just like anybody else’s, so we’re really blessed.”