Son of Catholic Influencer Passes Away at Five Following Medical Emergency

Catholic influencer Paul J. Kim has shared the heartbreaking news of his young son’s passing.

Kim’s son, Micah, tragically died on New Year’s Eve after being hospitalized for 11 days due to a severe flu infection that led to sepsis and seizures. During his hospital stay, Micah was placed on life support.

The 44-year-old father of six revealed the devastating loss of his son in two deeply emotional videos posted to his 346,000 Instagram followers on January 1. In his message, he expressed, “After fighting 11 long hard days, [Micah] went home to the house of our father.”

Kim, visibly moved, shared his gratitude, stating, “We are so proud of him. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart as his dad and on behalf of my family for all the prayers and support you offered us during this time.”

“This has been an incredibly difficult and impossible time for our family. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life, and it continues to be,” he admitted.

“As much as I wish for privacy and the space to grieve with my family, I felt the need to update you all out of gratitude,” Kim explained, acknowledging the outpouring of support they received.

Catholic influencer Paul J. Kim has announced the shocking death of his five-year-old son, Micah 

Micah died on New Year’s Eve, following an 11 day hospitalization after he contracted a severe case of the flu, which triggered sepsis and seizures. Micah was later placed on life support

‘Micah is already in Heaven at work, seriously, so many testimonies, so many ways in which God is using the light in my five-year-old to truly save souls and change the world.’

Kim added he and his family’s hearts ‘are broken, but we trust in the Lord. Please pray for my family and me as we learn how to live by faith and not by sight.’

‘For those two weeks we were fighting long and hard, we were consulting legal, health, ethical teams even outside the hospital. 

‘Just to make sure we weren’t leaving any stone unturned. In many ways we were fighting for Micah to buy him as much time as possible, until he passed. 

‘As a father, that is my duty I was called to do that. Even if in God’s ultimate will it wasn’t meant for him to recover.

Kim first revealed Micah’s health battle on December 21, writing his son was ‘having a medical emergency right now and headed to the hospital in an ambulance.’ 

He had been asking his followers to send prayers and hopes of a miracle to his son as he battled for his life – and the influencer had regularly posted videos of Micah in hospital during his treatment. 

Kim previously revealed that Micah’s scans had shown ‘brain activity is not present’ and that his son, who was on a ventilator, needed a ‘miracle to survive.’ 

On Christmas Day, Micah’s heart was said to be ‘improving’ but the child had significant brain swelling. 

Kim shared the heartbreaking news of Micah’s death in two emotional videos to his 346,000 Instagram followers on January 1, saying: ‘after fighting 11 long hard days, [Micah] went home to the house of our father – seen with Micah third left, his wife and his five siblings in November 2025

Kim had been asking his followers to send prayers and hopes of a miracle to his son as he battled for his life – and the influencer had regularly posted videos of Micah in hospital during his treatment

‘We are so proud of him. 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’ a tearful Kim said

On December 27, Kim said: ‘They did an MRI scan of his brain and they are saying it is so severely damaged that there is no medical possibility, in their opinion, that he can recover.

‘So here is what we are up against right now. We are up against the reality that at this point God must intervene. Our hearts are absolutely broken but we are not done fighting until the Lord says otherwise.’

Gwen Stefani has shown her support for Kim by commenting ‘praying for you’ on one of his posts. 

A GoFundMe in support of Micah, his family and his medical bills topped $350,000. 

Kim is the author of best-selling A Catholic Guide To Adulting and founder of the Triumph Men’s Conference.

He gained a huge following on social media as a therapist, missionary, and youth minister.