As Day 6 dawns, a glimmer of hope after young Micah survives a dangerous heart procedure, and is prayerfully coming off life support today.
Catholics across the globe are lifting up 5-year old Micah Kim in prayer this Christmas season. His father, Paul Kim, a popular Catholic speaker and comedian, husband and father to six children, shared on Dec. 22, that Micah had suffered a “medical emergency” and was in an ambulance heading to the hospital.
He has now entered his sixth day on life support.
“Please pray,” Kim implored. “Micah is fighting for his life but it’s going to take a miracle for him to recover. This has been the hardest day of our lives.”
Just before midnight, Kim shared with his followers writing, “Please pray. Micah is fighting for his life but it’s going to take a miracle for him to recover. This has been the hardest day of our lives.”
The family also began asking for Catholics to pray for the intercession of Venerable Fulton Sheen. The next morning, he wrote, “We are broken but trusting. For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
He also shared a very sad reality, that his young son was showing no signs of brain activity and was on life support. He received the sacrament of the anointing of the sick on Dec. 23 at 3 p.m. “when Divine Mercy redeemed us all,” and Kim invited all Catholics to join with his family in praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, humbly requesting a miracle “through the intercession of Archbishop Fulton Sheen.”
In the early morning hours of Christmas Eve, Kim thanked the thousands of Catholics that have been praying for son:
“My Wife and I want to thank everyone who has been praying for us, crying with us, showing kindness, keeping vigil, and pounding on Heaven’s door for a miracle. There are quite literally hundreds of thousands of people who are praying for Micah and we are forever indebted to you all. In the midst of so much pain and suffering, God has shown us that we are not alone, through each of you, the body of Christ! God’s Word commands us to pray without ceasing. Thank you!!”
Accompanying the words were several photos and a video of Micah laying in his hospital bed on life support next to a stuffed dog and St. Michael the Archangel prayer cards. Two priests praying over the suffering child sleeping peacefully are also shown.
The first glimmer of hope came midday on Christmas Eve with Kim sharing his son had undergone heart surgery and the doctors had “stopped the bleeding and his heart looked much better than before,” enthusiastically thanking everyone for praying as “this is the first good news we’ve received from the medical team.”
Kim has thousands of followers, owing to his popularity as a Catholic speaker and his social media presence, where he speaks on issues that impact Catholics. A recent post in early December shared parenting advice, mentioning how getting angry and upset was not the right response when trying to discipline children.
Visiting the motivational speaker’s website, several Catholic voices endorse him, including EWTN’s own Chris Stefanick, Leah Darrow who has also spent many long nights in the hospital with Baby Sly, Catholic musician Jason Evert, and Bishop James Wall of the Diocese of Gallup, New Mexico, who says of Kim:
“I’ve had the pleasure to see Paul speak on a number of occasions, and he is awesome. He helps people to encounter the living Christ and be drawn into a deeper relationship with Him. I recommend Paul to any group because at the heart of what he brings is Jesus Christ.”
On Christmas morning in the early hours, Kim had the Holy Family in mind writing, on social media:
“As a father and mother whose hearts are completely broken, but are being upheld by the cross of Christ and so many prayers… Thank you. We are keeping watch with hopeful expectation like Mother Mary & St. Joseph did.”
In a video shared later Christmas day, Kim said, ”Even in our deepest suffering, Christ gives us reason to hope and rejoice. Hold your loved ones tight and don’t take a moment for granted.”
The viral moments are a testimony to not only a family’s reliance on prayer but also the blessed work done by our Catholic priests who are always a phone call away, in our most dire moments, including long hospital corridors where life is most fragile.
Kim and his wife were both part of a post yesterday speaking about what they are both learning through this entire ordeal:
“This has undeniably been the heaviest cross my wife and I have carried in our entire lives. I have never felt so crushed and helpless in my life. … But I have simultaneously never felt so strong and upheld by God’s grace in my life. To those I know and strangers I’ve never met, thank you for your prayers, generosity, and concern. God is using Micah and this trial to work out His salvation in so many people’s lives. We say yes Lord. Your will be done. Please bring our boy back to full health so his testimony can glorify you forever. Merry Christmas!!!”
The latest and last update came early this morning, as the family enters six days at the hospital. Sharing tremendous news that doctors are seeing improvement with his heart and would be operating to remove the life support device. Trusting in the “Divine Physician, we surrender to you. Take care of everything,” Kim said.
Please keep darling Micah in your prayers as he undergoes this procedure and as Kim reminds us, this is our call as Catholics, to help shoulder the burdens that we all bear:
“My family in Christ throughout the world: We see you. … God sees you. … Thank you for loving our Micah and coming to our assistance in carrying our cross.”