Toddler marks her 200th blood transfusion in Manitoba with chocolate hugs and kisses

On the day Bailey Phillips was born, she received her first blood transfusion. Wednesday, the two-year-old girl marked her 200th transfusion by giving people in Winnipeg and Brandon hundreds of hugs and kisses.

Bailey, her mom Kristen, dad Garret, and two sisters bought 200 chocolate hugs and kisses for people making blood donations to show their appreciation.

"There aren't words to explain how much that means to us," Kristen said.

To this date, we still do not understand why her platelets are being consumed.- Kristen Phillips, Bailey's mom

While Kristen was pregnant she contracted cytomegalovirus (CMV), a virus that can infect almost anyone but seriously impacts unborn children.

The family wouldn't know until four days after Bailey's birth in August 2013 that the virus had attacked the baby's liver, spleen and brain.

"She definitely didn't look right when she came out. She was covered in... broken blood vessels. That's what made them do the blood work," Kristen said. "The blood work instantly showed she was low in platelets."

Bailey had a platelet count of 8,000 per microlitre, Kristen said. Normal counts are between 150,000 and 450,000 platelets per microlitre. Four hours after she first opened her eyes to see the world, Bailey was airlifted from the hospital in Brandon, where she was born, to St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg.

It took 111 days before they would be discharged and the family could head back home to Roseland, Man. But the ordeal was nowhere near over, Bailey had to continue doctor visits and transfusions five days a week in Brandon.

"To this date, we still do not understand why her platelets are being consumed," Kristen said.

With the help of doctors, nurses and antiviral medication, Kristen said the family has cut transfusions and tests down to one day a week but life has a new normal.

"She totally changed our life but we wouldn't change any part of that. It's meant that we just stay home, we don't really go anywhere," she said.

"We are always concerned about sickness because Bailey doesn't really have much of an immune system, we have to be really careful. People probably call me the hand sanitizer queen."

If Bailey's platelets get too low and she is injured, she could easily bleed out. Every week when their appointment comes around that's something that weighs heavy on the family.

"We've had times where we have had to wait because there wasn't a match," Kristen said.

"So you are sitting there waiting for the blood to be available at the blood bank and all you can do is pray that somebody with the right blood type comes in and it's a match for Bailey."

Canadian Blood Services in need of donations

Canadian Blood Services said that they need to have 200,000 donations collected in Manitoba by July 1 to meet the demands of summer.

"Right now in Manitoba we have about 55,000 appointments that are open. We are hoping that Manitobans take the initiative," Darrin Desmedt, territory manager with Canadian Blood Services, said.

Bailey has already had platelets from about 1,200 donors so far in her life. Kristen said she is urging people across the province to check if they are eligible to donate especially as they navigate the uncertainty of her young daughter's condition.

"It's day to day but we know she is good for a week before she needs platelets," she said.

"When you get to day seven and there is no blood there and you have to wait for day eight, you are nervous the whole time."

For information on donating blood visit the Blood Services Canada website.