The psychologist who was about to finish her dissertation started examining David as he grew in the bubble. There, the three year old met his child psychologist Mary Murphy, who stayed on his side for the rest of his life. In 1974, a bubble was set up at his family’s home in Conroe so David could spend more time with his family. Seconds after his c-section, David was placed in a sterile environment and later on, the boy was transferred to Texas Children’s Hospital where he started his life in a bubble made of polyvinyl chloride film, mounted with rubber gloves to handle the baby.ĭavid Vetter in his spacesuit, photo: NASA Johnson Space Center Luke’s Episcopal Hospital that had been cleaned several times in order to make it as germ-free as possible. Life in the Bubbleĭavid Phillip Vetter was born on September 21, 1971, in a room at St. Apparently, the doctors believed that finding a cure was just a matter of time and there was only little discussion on how long the boy could be kept in isolation and at that point no ethical questions were probably discussed. that in case they chose to have another child (and it suffered from the illness) the baby could be placed in a sterile isolator to protect him from germs until a cure was found. The doctors also explained to Carol Ann and David Vetter Jr. In the latter case, if the Vetters had another son, the odds were 50-50 that he, too, would be afflicted by SCIDS. The Vetters were told by several doctors that the boy’s death may have been caused by a mutant gene, however, there was also the possibility that the defect might be carried on one of the mother’s X chromosomes.
had their first son in 1970, who unfortunately died of Severe Combined Immunedeficiency Syndrome at the age of only 6 months. Backgroundīefore David was born, his parents Carol Ann and David Vetter Jr. In the media, Vetter was referred to as “ David, the bubble boy“, because he lived in a special sterilized plastic cocoon bubble from birth until he died at age 12. He was a prominent sufferer of severe combined immunodeficiency ( SCID), a hereditary disease which dramatically weakens the immune system. What is Bubble Boy Disease? Place this order or similar order and get an amazing discount.On September 21, 1971, David Phillip Vetter was born. Unfortunately, he died in 1984 after a bone marrow transplant in which a dormant virus, which could not be found using screening practices of the time, was introduced into his system and spread like cancer throughout his body.
#Bubble boy series#
He was born with the genetic disorder in 1971 and spent nearly the entirety of his life within a series of rooms separated from others by sheets of plastic. A boy named David Vetter was the first “bubble boy” and was the person for whom the term was coined. The term “bubble boy disease” stems primarily from cases of the disorder in which the person afflicted with the illness was forced to live in a plastic bubble to avoid germs and viruses. With modern medical treatment, however, this condition can be fought and there is a decent chance of recovery through gene therapy, stem cell treatments, or bone marrow transplant. This is because the disorder itself does not actively harm a person it simply renders a person’s immune system incapable of fighting off germs and viruses. Much like auto immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a secondary infection or illness will ultimately cause the person’s death. Someone with bubble boy disease does not ultimately die from the disease itself. Regardless of what genetic disorder precisely causes this disease in a specific individual, the results are typically the same: the immune system in the person is unable to properly produce T cells and B cells, which fight off illness. This is typically a hereditary disorder that can be passed on by a mother or father, in whom the disorder is recessive and so some offspring may not have the disease while others do. Technically referred to as severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), bubble boy disease is a genetic disorder that can be caused by a number of different genetic issues. This disease is named for the fact that in many instances of this illness in the past, the person was forced to live in a plastic bubble to avoid contact with germs and viruses. Someone afflicted with this type of disorder has an immune system which functions so poorly it is typically considered to be effectively absent. Though the specific nature of this disease can be the result of a number of different genetic causes, in general the effective condition is the same. Bubble boy disease refers to one of several genetic disorders that manifest as an inability by the body to produce cells that battle infection or illness.
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