Texas Childrens HospitalBubble Boy David Vetter spent his entire life waiting for a cure to his genetic disorder.David Vetter was born without an immune system. With no defense against germs, even a mild cold could kill the young boy. And so Vetter spent his life living in a bubble.Known as the Bubble Boy, David Vetter eventually became famous. But very few knew how much he truly suffered under the weight of his unusual condition one that ultimately proved deadly.Why David Vetter Had To Live Alone Inside A BubbleOn September 21, 1971, doctors at Texas Childrens Hospital placed a newborn David Vetter in a sterile isolator. Born with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), the infant needed a germ-free environment in order to stay alive.Carol Ann and David, Jr., the babys parents, were prepared. They knew their child had a 50-50 chance of having the genetic disorder.Texas Childrens HospitalDoctors knew that Carol Anns baby had a 50-50 chance of having SCID, so they immediately placed the newborn in an isolation chamber.But the Vetters were also hopeful. Doctors believed that a bone marrow transplant or a cure would come within a few short years.Instead, David Vetter spent the next 12 years alone inside a bubble.Life In Isolation For David, The Bubble BoyWhat was life like for David Vetter, widely known as the Bubble Boy? As a toddler, Vetter primarily lived at the hospital. Once he was older, he spent most of his time in an isolation bubble at home.Vetter watched basketball on TV with his dad and held the mixer while his mom baked. He loved spaghetti and Star Wars. Neighborhood friends would visit Vetter in his bubble. Summertime, however, was lonelier because the other kids wanted to play outside.David Vetters older sister, Katherine, slept next to his bubble every night for nine years.Baylor College of Medicine ArchivesDavids older sister, Katherine, would eventually donate bone marrow in an attempt to cure his condition.Life in the bubble was all that Vetter knew. And the Bubble Boy became famous before anyone knew his name. Stories about the boy who lived in a bubble appeared in papers across the country.I dont have to clean up my room, David Vetter told his mother. Im a star. I had my picture in the paper yesterday.Carol Ann explained, I told him I had checked the newspaper today and that his picture wasnt in it anymore, so he still had to do his chores. He laughed and cleaned up his room.NASAIn 1977, NASA designed a suit for David Vetter that allowed him to safely leave his bubble for the first time.When he was five, David Vetter was finally able to leave his bubble by wearing a special suit designed by NASA. He was able to walk through the hospital and outside. But Vetter soon outgrew the suit and lost his mobility.The Bubble Boys Brother And The Risk His Parents Knowingly TookDavid Vetter was not the first member of his family to have SCID. His older brother, also named David, was born with the condition in 1970. He died at seven months old.Weeks after their first sons death, the Vetters discovered they were pregnant again. Despite knowing that the fetus was male and had a 50 precent chance of having the genetic disorder, the parents decided to continue with the pregnancy.Baylor College of Medicine ArchivesCarol Ann was able to hold her son for the first time thanks to the NASA suit.The decision to have another child came from our hearts and our minds, said Carol Ann. We were not trying to fill a void, to replace the son we had just lost.Later, she admitted our judgment perhaps was a little clouded by the grief that we were feeling at the time.David Vetters View On Life From Inside The BubbleThe fact that the Vetters knew their pregnancy was risky only makes it more tragic that David Vetters life was torturous in a way that even some of those closest to him didnt realize.Why am I so angry all the time? David Vetter asked his hospital psychologist, Mary Murphy.Spending his entire life in an isolation chamber wasnt easy. Vetters family and his hospital team believed a cure would release Vetter from the bubble, so they expected him to attend school and do chores like other kids. But Vetter didnt always understand.Why school? Vetter asked. Why did you make me learn to read? What good will it do? I wont ever be able to do anything anyway. So why? You tell me why.Baylor College of Medicine ArchivesAs David Vetter grew older, he became withdrawn and depressed.Vetter would lose his pencil in the bubble so he didnt have to attend school by phone.But I knew all the hiding places in the bubble, Carol Ann said, and the lost pencils were soon retrieved.As Vetter grew older, his moods darkened. David seemed to be growing more pensive, his mother recalled. He became more secretive and really wouldnt share his thoughts with anyone.The Ethical Debate Surrounding The Bubble Boy CaseWhen a cure did not emerge, ethicists wondered whether David Vetter would have to stay in the bubble indefinitely.Ethics professor Kenneth Vaux described Vetter as a living experiment and an involuntary guinea pig.Wikimedia CommonsThe Bubble Boy triggered a debate over medical ethics.Hospital chaplain Reverend Raymond J. Lawrence worried that the bubble was no different from a prison. We think we know that human slavery is unacceptably dehumanizing, but how and on what basis do we decide if Davids plastic prison was?The Tragic Death Of David Vetter At The Age Of Just 12Bone marrow transplants, David Vetters only hope, required an exact match in the 1970s. But by the early 1980s, medical advances made a transplant possible.On October 21, 1983, David Vetter received bone marrow from his sister, Katherine. Doctors hoped it would activate Vetters immune system. Instead, he developed cancer from a virus contracted during the transfusion.Baylor College of Medicine ArchivesDavid Vetter died after contracting cancer from a bone marrow transplant.Our doctors told us that the operation was proving very successful, and that it was 99 percent safe, Carol Ann said. They said it would either work or not work. But if it didnt work, we would simply be back to square one.However, that wasnt the case, and the cancer quickly spread. Doctors simply couldnt treat Vetter with any real effectiveness while he was inside his bubble.On February 7, 1984, Vetter emerged from his bubble for the first time. His voice sounds different outside the bubble, Vetters sister Katherine remarked.Then, Vetter grew sicker. This is not working, he told his mother. Im tired. Why dont we just pull all the tubes out and let me go home?Fifteen days after he left the bubble, David Vetter died.Six years after Vetters death, doctors developed the first experimental treatment for SCID. By 1993, advances in gene therapy led to an experimental cure.David Vetters grave in Conroe, Texas reads, He never touched the world but the world was touched by him.David Vetter led a short but meaningful life, helping doctors eventually cure SCID. Next, learn about Ryan White, the boy who contracted HIV from a blood transfusion in the 1980s, and then read about the controversial Little Albert experiment.The post How David Vetters Disease Turned Him Into The Bubble Boy appeared first on All That's Interesting.