A mother is urging others to be cautious after what she calls a “Thanksgiving kiss” left her two-year-old daughter in the ICU fighting for her life with a viral infection.

With Thanksgiving approaching, 30-year-old Destiny Smith is warning people to think twice before kissing someone else’s child during the holidays.

Last year, Destiny first noticed what seemed like mild cold symptoms in her then–two-year-old daughter as the Thanksgiving season began. But she quickly realized something was seriously wrong when her little girl’s breathing started to retract.

At the hospital, doctors informed Destiny that her daughter—now three—had contracted respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common respiratory virus. When the child’s condition deteriorated, she had to be airlifted to the ICU.

Destiny, who lives in Lake County, Florida, recalled: “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.”

The toddler fought for her life for eight days before thankfully making a full recovery.

During her daughter’s first night in the hospital, Destiny watched her health decline rapidly. She and her partner stayed by the little girl’s side for the following two days as she grew weaker and weaker.

After those two days, the toddler was airlifted to the pediatric 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.

“The doctors weren’t sure whether it would take a turn for the worse, or if it would get better, it was just horrible.”

The situation became so terrifying that Destiny even found herself planning her daughter’s funeral before the child finally turned a corner and began to recover.

The mom-of-four shared that friends and family had hugged and kissed her daughter before she became ill. While she can’t say for certain that this caused the infection, the experience has completely changed her perspective on allowing others to touch her child.

“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.”