A Catholic influencer shared some tragic news with his 300,000 followers, announcing that his 5-year-old son passed away after an 11-day battle with a severe case of the flu. Paul J. Kim, who uses social media platform Instagram to share his faith online, was sharing updates publicly about his son’s condition almost daily. Kim revealed that his son, Micah, died on New Year’s Eve.
In the emotional video where Kim announced his family’s painful loss, he took an opportunity to thank his supporters for praying for his son and asked for a season of privacy so they could grieve Micah’s passing. “We are so proud of him,” Kim went on to say in the clip. “I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, as his dad, on behalf of my family, for all the ways you guys prayed and lifted us up during this time. It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my life, and it continues to be.”
Kim first shared the news of Micah’s illness on December 21, 2025, posting that his son was rushed to the hospital via ambulance after experiencing a medical emergency. In later updates on the boy’s condition, Kim revealed that doctors were describing Micah’s illness as an unusually severe case of the flu. Later, Micah was placed on life support and Kim urged his followers to pray for his son.
According to Fox News, Kim later updated followers that the flu infection turned septic, triggering multiple seizures. Doctors told Kim that the kind of flu Micah was suffering with is rare and extremely serious. In a video posted on December 30, Kim informed followers his son’s condition had worsened and that the boy was in a coma as doctors and family members worked hard to try and give him as much time as possible.
Some of Kim’s posts showing his dear son in the hospital garnered millions of views on social media. The Catholic influencer often referred to Michah as a fighter and “my hero.” In a written post on the platform, Kim shared a quote from Job 1:21, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord,” before going on to write that Micah had entered “the never-ending glory, love, and peace of God.”
Kim then requested prayers for his family as they learn “how to live by faith and not by sight.” Reports from the CDC reveal that there have been 288 pediatric deaths during the 2024-2025 flu season, which is a record high for a non-pandemic year. In almost 70% of those deaths, underlying conditions like asthma contributed to fatalities. A new “super flu” strain has also appeared on the scene, which is a mutation of the H3N2 bug also known as subclade K.
The new strain is highly contagious and aggressive, and is spreading across the country. Statistics show that around 20,000 kids under the age of 5 are hospitalized every year due to flu infections. Children under 6 months of age face the highest risk of mortality.
"*" indicates required fields
Featured image: screenshot from embedded video