A Catholic influencer said Thursday that his 5-year-old son died from a severe case of the flu.
Paul Kim, who posts videos about his Catholic faith and has more than 300,000 followers on Instagram, said in a video on Instagram that his son, Micah, died on New Year’s Eve after “fighting 11 long, hard days.” Previously, Kim said on Instagram that his son was hospitalized after contracting a severe case of the flu.
“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,” Kim said in the video. “This incredibly difficult, impossible time for our family. It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my life, and it continues to be.”
On Dec. 21, Kim posted on Instagram that his son was heading to the hospital in an ambulance after “having a medical emergency.” The next day, he posted an update on Instagram saying Micah was on life support and asked for prayers.
In an update on Dec. 30, Kim said his son had a severe case of the flu, which caused the child to go septic and experience seizures.
“The doctors are saying it’s one of the most horrific cases of this virus that they have ever seen in their life. It’s very rare, what happened to my son,” Kim said. “Rest assured, he needs a miracle.”
Kim posted updates nearly daily since then, several including videos of the 5-year-old unconscious in the hospital. In Thursday’s video, Kim said his son was in a coma before he died and that “his soul was already with the Lord.”
“In many ways, we were fighting for Micah to buy him as much time as possible, until he passed,” he said. “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 said in the Thursday video that his account has been viewed more than 50 million times in the last few weeks since his son’s hospitalization.
The influencer is now asking for privacy.
“Micah is already in heaven at work, seriously. So many testimonies, so many ways in which God is using the light in my 5-year-old to truly save souls and change the world,” he said.
The 5-year-old’s death comes as the flu surges across the U.S., with young children hit particularly hard by the respiratory illness. Roughly 3,100 people have died from the flu this season, including five children, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
