David Vetter
USABiography of David Vetter
David Vetter, an American boy with the nickname "Bubble Boy", was born on September 21, 1971. He was born with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), a condition that made him extremely vulnerable to infections. David's older brother had also died from SCID, and doctors informed his parents, David Sr. and Carol Ann Vetter, that there was a 50% chance their next child would have the same condition.
In order to protect David from any potential harm, his parents and a medical team created a sterile environment for him to live in. He was placed in a plastic bubble shortly after birth, where he spent most of his life. Everything that entered his "home" had to undergo special treatment to ensure it was free from any microbes that could harm him.
Despite living in isolation, David's parents and the medical team tried to provide him with a normal life. He received an education and had a portable television in his sterile chamber. When he turned three, a "home bubble" was built in his parents' house, allowing him to spend short periods of time outside of his main bubble and interact with his sister, Katherine, as well as peers and friends. However, his relationship with Katherine was not always easy, and they would sometimes get into fights, with Katherine threatening to disconnect David's bubble from its power source.
In 1977, NASA developers created a special suit for David that allowed him to leave his bubble and explore the outside world. However, he only used the suit seven times due to its cumbersome nature. Despite these attempts to provide him with some form of freedom, David became increasingly psychologically unstable as he grew older. He struggled with feelings of depression and anger, and even resorted to smearing his bubble with his own excrement during a fit of rage.
Throughout his life, efforts were made to find a bone marrow donor for David, but none were successful. In a desperate move, doctors performed a bone marrow transplant using tissue from his sister Katherine. Although the operation initially appeared successful, David's health rapidly deteriorated, and he developed complications such as diarrhea, fever, severe vomiting, and intestinal bleeding. By February 1984, he fell into a coma, and 15 days later, on February 22, 1984, David Vetter passed away at the age of 12 from Burkitt's lymphoma.
Following their son's death, David Sr. and Carol Ann divorced. David Sr. later became the mayor of Shenandoah, Texas, while Carol Ann remarried a reporter from People magazine, who had written several articles about her son's life.
