A mother has issued a chilling warning after a 'Thanksgiving kiss' left her two-year-daughter in ICU fighting for her life after contracting a viral infection.
Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and Destiny Smith, 30, has issued a warning to people about kissing others' children this year.
Destiny noticed symptoms of a cold on her then two-year daughter during Thanksgiving season last year, but she knew something was serious when her daughter's breathing was retracting.
After being taken to hospital, Destiny was told her little girl, now three, had contracted respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) - common respiratory virus - and she had to be airlifted to the ICU when her conditioned worsened.
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Destiny, from Lake County, Florida said: “She was showing signs of a cold, but we knew something was different about this cold.
“She was breathing really weird, so we took her to the hospital and throughout the night, she got really, really bad.
“After two days, they life-flighted her to the PICU, they were giving her breathing treatments every two hours, her oxygen levels kept going down and down."
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The toddler spent eight days fighting for her life, but thankfully made a full recovery.
During her first night in hospital, Destiny's daughter's health worsened, with the mother and her partner remaining by her side for the following two days, as she got weaker and weaker.
After two days, the toddler was air lifted to the paediatric ICU, where she remained for five days.
“One minute she’d be ok, and the next she wouldn’t, it was very, very scary”, Destiny said.
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“The doctors weren’t sure whether it would take a turn for the worse, or if it would get better, it was just horrible."
It got to the point where Destiny was planning her daughter's funeral, but she thankfully picked up and made a recovery.
The mom-of-four said friends and family were hugging and kissing her daughter before she caught RSV, and while she doesn't know for sure that was the root cause, Destiny’s attitude to letting other people touch her child has changed.
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“I always tell people to be careful with letting people who aren’t in their immediate family hug and kiss them, because their kid could be next”, she said.
“I think this is something really important to raise awareness of.
“I just want other parents to know how quickly it can get serious. Please trust your gut and get them checked if something feels off.”
Callum Jones