The Boy in The Bubble

chanakyakripa

'The Boy In The Bubble'


David Vetter was born on September 21, 1971, with severe combined immunodeficiency, a rare disease that could have made it fatal for him to be touched, held, kissed by his parents or even take a breath of fresh air.


Doctors devised a sterile clear plastic pouch to keep David alive until medical science could come up with ... something else.


David Vetter became "The Boy in the Bubble." As he grew, it was a joy to see occasional photos of him smiling, playing, and so manifestly alive.
It was also heartbreaking to see a smiling little boy who had to live in a bubble, and wonder how long he could, or even should, live that way.


NASA engineers constructed a spacesuit for David when he was 6 that enabled him to walk around his family's house and even play catch with his sister, Katherine. But psychologists who worked with him said David was growing bitter about the way he had to live in a bubble.


When David was 12, a team of doctors used a new technique for a bone marrow transplant from his sister. The transplant seemed to have worked. For the first time since he was born, David was freed from his bubble, to be kissed by his mother, to feel the air of the world on his face.


However shortly thereafter he became ill with infectious mononucleosis & died with a last wink at his doctor.


The autopsy revealed that his sister's bone marrow contained traces of a dormant virus, Epstein-Barr, which had been undetectable in the pre-transplant screening.


The film "The Boy In A Plastic Bubble" (1976), starring John Travolta was inspired by his life.