I’m sharing pics of my toddler fighting for her life with ‘cold copycat virus’ spreading NOW
A TODDLER was left fighting for her life after catching the ‘copycat virus’ that mimics a cold, but can be deadly.
Destiny Smith, 30, noticed her daughter, then two, was showing signs of a cold in November last year.
But her instinct kicked in when she noticed her daughter’s chest sucking inwards whenever she took a breath.
Recognising there was something more serious going on, Destiny took her daughter to hospital.
Destiny was told her little girl, now three, had contracted respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common respiratory virus.
She spent eight agonising days fighting for her life.
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Destiny, from Lake County, Florida said: “It was probably the most terrifying thing I’d ever been through, not knowing whether my child was going to survive the night, or if I would have to plan a funeral.
“One minute she’d be ok, and the next she wouldn’t, it was very, very scary.
“The doctors weren’t sure whether it would take a turn for the worse, or if it would get better, it was just horrible.”
RSV is a common cause of coughs and colds, typically causing mild symptoms.
But an infection can become serious for children and babies, especially if they’re under six months old, leading to chest and lung conditions like bronchiolitis and pneumonia.
In the UK, cases of RSV are on the rise as it’s a winter bug. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said last week that positive tests have gone up by 4 per cent.
In the UK, an estimated 31 children and teens under the age of 18 died of RSV-related causes between October 2024 and April 2025.
It was after having guests over for Thanksgiving, in November 2024, that Destiny noticed her daughter was unwell.
She wonders if things had been different, had she known what she does now – that RSV typically spreads via coughs, sneezes and other infected items.
The mum-of-four said friends and family were hugging and kissing her daughter before she caught RSV.
“We’d had her out and about with family members, and people love giving kisses to babies,” Destiny said.
“People were putting their hands on my child, and they might not have washed them.”
She suspects her tot might have caught the bug from one of these interactions- and says she’s now much more cautious about letting family and friends touch and kiss her children.
Destiny’s daughter began to show signs of a cold but soon started experiencing chest retractions – meaning she was working hard to breathe.
She said: “[My daughter] 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 air-lifted her to the PICU, they were giving her breathing treatments every two hours, her oxygen levels kept going down and down.”
Concerned, Destiny and her boyfriend, Tristan, 27, decided to take their daughter to the hospital, where staff admitted her for the night and diagnosed her with RSV.
During the night, the tot’s condition got worse and worse, and Destiny and Tristan remained by their daughter’s side for the following two days, whilst she got weaker and weaker.
The toddler was then air-lifted to the nearest paediatric ICU, where she remained for five days.
Doctors gave her breathing treatments every two hours, but her oxygen levels continued to drop.
Destiny said: “My boyfriend and I stayed with her from the day she got admitted to the very end. It scared the life out of us.”
‘Your kid could be next’
After a week of torture, where Destiny and Tristan considered planning their daughter’s funeral, the toddler finally began to recover and was taken home.
She was given an inhaler, which had to be taken every four hours for the next three weeks, and was seen by a specialist to identify underlying causes of her illness.
“They couldn’t find anything, it was just something that happened out of the blue,” Destiny said.
Prior to her daughter getting ill, all Destiny knew about RSV was that it was a cold that affected babies and the elderly.
“I had no idea it could get so bad that kids end up in the ICU”, she said.
She was also unaware that it could badly affect toddlers as well as babies.
“When babies are under 12 months old, you’re supposed to wash your hands and take very serious precautions because they have a weaker immune system”, she said.
“But you don’t really think about it when your kids are two and three years old.”
Since her daughter’s illness, Destiny’s attitude to letting other people touch her children has completely changed.
“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.”
RSV infections are very common. Almost all children get them at least once before they’re two years old.
They’re not usually serious, but some babies and adults have a higher risk of getting seriously ill, particularly:
- Babies under six months old
- Young children who were born prematurely
- Adults over 75 years
- Babies, children and adults with a weakened immune system, or long-term lung or heart conditions
- People who smoke tobacco and babies exposed to tobacco smoke
In babies, RSV is a common cause of a type of chest infection called bronchiolitis. This can cause breathing problems and may need to be treated in hospital.
RSV can also cause pneumonia in babies and older adults.
Most people only get cold-like symptoms, such as:
- A runny or blocked nose
- A cough
- Sneezing
- Tiredness
- A high temperature – signs include your back or chest feeling hotter than usual, sweatiness and shivering (chills)
Call 999 if:
- Your child is having difficulty breathing – you may notice grunting noises, long pauses in their breathing or their tummy sucking under their ribs
- You have severe difficulty breathing – you’re gasping, choking or not able to get words out
- You or your child is floppy and will not wake up or stay awake
- You or your child’s lips or skin are turning very pale, blue or grey – on brown or black skin, this may be easier to see on the palms of the hands
- Your child is under five years old and has a temperature below 36C
As a parent, you may know if your child seems seriously unwell and should trust your judgement.
Source: NHS
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