(NEXSTAR) – The 5-year-old son of Catholic influencer and author Paul Kim has died after a severe bout with the flu, Kim and his wife revealed on social media.
“Our hearts are broken; but we trust in the Lord,” Kim said, in part, upon announcing the death of Micah Joseph Kim on Jan. 1. “Please pray for my family and me as we learn how to live by faith and not by sight.”
Kim, a speaker and youth minister based in Austin, Texas, had revealed on Dec. 21 that his son Micah was hospitalized due to an unspecified medical emergency. He later revealed that Micah was rushed to the hospital after coming down with a “really insane case of the flu,” after which he suffered sepsis and seizures.
“The doctors are saying this is one of the most horrific cases of this virus they’ve ever seen in their life,” Kim said on Dec. 29. “It’s very rare, what happened to my son.”
Micah was placed on life support shortly after being admitted to the hospital, Kim said. Kim later provided updates via Instagram revealing that Micah’s “brain activity” was not present, and that the illness had taken a toll on the the boy’s heart, lungs and kidneys.
Micah was also administered his last rites in the hospital, according to Kim.
On Jan. 1, Kim announced that Micah had died the day before.
“After fighting for 11 long, hard days, Micah went home to the house of our Father,” Kim, through tears, told his Instagram followers. “We’re so proud of him. We’re so proud of him.”
Kim thanked his followers for their prayers and support and asked for “privacy and time to mourn.”
“It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my life, and it continues to be.”
The following day, Maggie Kim, Micah’s mother and Paul Kim’s wife, shared her own post about Micah’s passing, saying “the pain is indescribable.”
“And yet, you have shown us in multiple ways that you are with us. It’s not the same joy as holding your hand or hearing your voice, but there is an unexplainable joy that only comes with knowing you are with Jesus. That you are in our true home. And that you are very, very happy,” she wrote.
Cases of influenza in the U.S. have been rising in recent weeks, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show. As of Jan. 5, 2026, the CDC estimates that there have been roughly 11 million cases so far this season, of which 5,000 patients have died.
A new dominant flu strain in the U.S. — the subclade K variant of influenza A (H3N2), recently nicknamed the “super flu” — has contributed to rising case numbers. (The World Health Organization said a different strain of the flu had “predominated during the 2024-2025 northern hemisphere winter season.”)
In the past, H3N2 influenza has been more severe and taken longer to recover from. The K subclade of the virus causes similar symptoms to other strains, including fever, body aches, cough and sore throat, but some patients also experience shortness of breath, chest pains and prolonged weakness, among other symptoms.