American influencer's 5-year-old son dies from flu complications
An influencer in the US announced the death of his five-year-old son after contracting a severe case of the flu.
In a two-part video message posted on his Instagram, Paul Kim shared that his son Micah died on Dec. 31 "after fighting 11 long, hard days."
"Micah went home to the house of our Father," he said, breaking into tears. "It's the hardest thing I've ever been through in my life and it continues to be."
"Micah's already in heaven at work. So many testimonies, so many ways God is using the life of my five-year-old to truly save souls and to change the world," he added.
The influencer also thanked his followers for supporting and praying for his family.
"In these last two weeks, so many people have been following what's been happening to Micah that my account's been viewed over 50 million times... And on top of that, we've had people from all over the world praying for my boy throughout this ordeal," Kim shared.
He and his wife spent their son's last two or so weeks alive consulting legal, health, and ethical teams in and outside of the hospital, "fighting for Micah to buy him as much time as possible, until he passed," said Kim. "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."
On Dec. 22, Kim shared on the platform that his son Micah experienced a medical emergency and was on the way to the hospital in an ambulance. He asked for prayers for healing.
The influencer had since posted updates on Micah's condition almost daily.
A day after his son was rushed to the hospital, Kim shared Micah was on life support. Scans then showed that the child's brain activity was "not present." On Christmas Eve, Micah underwent surgery to address bleeding inside his chest, and surgeons were able to stop the bleeding.
By the eighth day of Micah being on life support, Kim shared his son's vitals were steady even as his lungs were on a respirator and his kidney "needs help."
On Day 10, Micah underwent three brain death tests, which doctors normally perform to confirm the absence of brain activity. According to Kim, the first test showed that Micah was not responding. The influencer said his son was in the 11th hour and needed "a miracle."
Micah died on the 11th day.
Kim has a following of over 360,000 followers on Instagram, where he regularly posts about his Catholic faith.
Throughout his updates, his posts garnered an average of 100,000 reactions and promises of prayer from his followers.
He consistently mentioned how he and his wife were amazed at the outpouring of support in the form of prayers from all over the world, as well as how even non-religious people were getting influenced by Micah's situation.
He shared he even got to baptize a two-week-old baby who was in the hospital the same time as his son. Kim said his spiritual adviser approved it as it was an emergency situation.
Kim and his wife share five other children.
