David Phillip Vetter was a boy from
ShenandoahShenandoah is a city in Montgomery County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,503 at the 2000 census. David Vetter, the famous "boy in the plastic bubble", was from Shenandoah. In 1986 the Shenandoah city council renamed Tamina School Road to David Memorial Drive in honor of...
,
TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
who suffered from a rare genetic disease now known as
severe combined immune deficiency syndromeSevere combined immunodeficiency , is a genetic disorder in which both "arms" of the adaptive immune system are impaired due to a defect in one of several possible genes. SCID is a severe form of heritable immunodeficiency...
(SCID). Forced to live in a sterile environment, he became popular with the media as
the boy in the plastic bubble. He spent most of his life inside a special bubble-like structure at
Texas Children's HospitalTexas Children's Hospital is a pediatric hospital located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas.With 639 licensed beds and 465 beds in operation, Texas Children's is the largest children's hospital in the United States and is affiliated with the Baylor College of Medicine as that...
in Houston. He died in 1984, at the age of 12, after a bone marrow transplant from his sister.
David's parents, David Joseph Vetter Jr. and Carol Ann Vetter, had one daughter, Katherine; their second child, a boy named David Joseph Vetter III, died seven months after birth. Doctors said that the baby boy had been born with a defective
thymusThe thymus is a specialized organ of the immune system. The thymus produces and "educates" T-lymphocytes , which are critical cells of the adaptive immune system....
, a gland which is important in the functioning of the
immune systemAn immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
, due to a
geneA gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
tic condition, SCID. Each further son the couple might conceive would have a 50% chance of inheriting the same condition. However, a group of doctors told the Vetters that if they had another child with SCID, the child could be placed in a sterile isolator until a bone marrow transplant could be performed, using the older sister, Katherine, as a donor. The couple was eager to have another child, so, believing that after a short treatment their child could live a normal life, they decided to go through another
pregnancyPregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...
. However, after the birth of David, it was discovered that Katherine was not a match, thus removing the possibility of the transplant. There had been no discussion of what would happen in this case, or how long the prospective child would remain in the bubble.
The Rev. Raymond Lawrence, the chaplain of the hospital at that time, said of the situation: "The great scandal of the Bubble Boy was that he was conceived for the bubble. The team that did this didn't think through this very well. They didn't consider what would happen if they didn't find an immediate cure. They operated on the assumption that you could live to be 80 years old in a bubble, and that would be unfortunate but okay." Lawrence says that the original three doctors encouraged David's parents to conceive David so that they could have a test subject for studies, a charge which is denied by the three involved doctors.
Birth
A special sterilized cocoon bed was prepared for David at his birth. Less than ten seconds after being removed from his mother's womb, David entered the
plasticA plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
germ-free environment that would be his home for most of his life. Devout Catholics, the Vetters arranged for Dr. Raphael Wilson, who was also a monk, to baptize David once he had entered the bubble with sterilized
holy waterHoly water is water that, in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Oriental Orthodoxy, and some other churches, has been sanctified by a priest for the purpose of baptism, the blessing of persons, places, and objects; or as a means of repelling evil.The use for baptism and...
.
After finding out that David's sister, Katherine, was not a match for the transplant the boy needed, the bubble that was set up as a temporary solution became his home.
Life in the bubble
Water, air, food, diapers, and clothes were disinfected with special cleaning agents before entering his cocoon. Before anything could go into the bubble, extra glue and labels would be removed, the product would be placed in a chamber filled with
ethylene oxideEthylene oxide, also called oxirane, is the organic compound with the formula . It is a cyclic ether. This means that it is composed of two alkyl groups attached to an oxygen atom in a cyclic shape . This colorless flammable gas with a faintly sweet odor is the simplest epoxide, a three-membered...
gas for four hours at 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60˚C), and then aerated for a period of one to seven days before it could finally go in the bubble.
David himself, even as a baby, was handled only through special plastic gloves attached to the walls.
The bubble had very loud motors that would keep it inflated, which made it difficult for David to have conversations and for people listening to hear him.
The researchers and his parents tried to give him a life as normal as possible: he had formal education and had a television set and playroom inside his bubble. However, David longed to participate in the outside world that he could see out the window and on television. He said on one occasion: "Whatever I do depends on what somebody else decides I do. Why school? Why did you make me learn to read? What good will it do? I won't ever be able to do anything anyway. So why? You tell me why."
By 1974, David, around age 3, could spend up to two or three weeks at a time at his parents' home in
Conroe, TexasConroe is a suburban city 40 miles north of Houston in the gulf coastal plains/piney woods region of southeast Texas.It is the seat of Montgomery County and falls within the metropolitan area.As of the 2000 U.S...
in a different bubble set up for him there. When he was home, his sister would sleep in the living room next to his bubble. The two siblings were close, although they would sometimes even have physical fights and shoving matches using the gloves into the bubble. Once, David punched Katherine using the gloves and then went to the other side of the bubble, where he couldn't be reached with the gloves. However, in the end Katherine would have the upper hand in their disagreements: she could threaten to unplug his bubble, which she did a few times. Even if his primary bubble deflated, he had a separate area he could go into while he asked her to plug the bubble back in.
David did have friends and classmates who would come to his house to play with him, and in one case, a friend arranged for a special showing of
Return of the Jedi at a local movie theater that David could watch from his transport bubble, used to take him from his home to the hospital.
Poking holes in the bubble
When David was four years old, he discovered he could poke holes in his bubble using a butterfly syringe that was left in his possession by accident. This led his doctor, Raphael Wilson, Ph.D., to tell David about germs and David's special condition for the first time.
Eventually, David realized what his life would be like, according to Murphy: "Even though David was only five, he recognized his difference and dreaded what the future held - limited choices, feelings of alienation and an increased need to be polite and compliant so as not to reveal his anger."
Many famous dignitaries, including members of royalty, visited David at Texas Children's and he "served as a kind of tourist attraction for VIPs."
Psychological and ethical aspects
Although the press created an image of a healthy young boy trapped in a bubble, David was psychologically unstable, primarily due to the lack of human contact, and the seeming hopelessness of his condition. Normally presenting a painstakingly polite façade, he was increasingly angry and depressed about his condition and would act out, expressing rage in a variety of ways, including once spreading his own excrement around the bubble. David was also extremely anxious about germs, including repeated nightmares about the "King of Germs."
In 1975, when David was around four, the hospital held an
ethicsEthics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
meeting to discuss the specifics of David's case. One of his original doctors, John Montgomery, said at the meeting that if he had the chance, he would conduct the same project with another child. When someone asked him "How many more?", he replied: "Until I determined that there was no more information to be gained by such a thing, or if the outcome was certain." No other meeting was ever convened on the matter.
Montgomery said in 1997: "At the time, we were encouraged by everything we knew. If people didn't take chances, none of us would be here.
ColumbusChristopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
would have stayed in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and would have been selling
tortillaIn Mexico and Central America, a tortilla is a type of thin, unleavened flat bread, made from finely ground maize...
s, because he was warned he would sail off the edge of the earth."
NASA suit
In 1977, researchers from
NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
used their vast experience with the fabrication of space suits to develop a special suit that would allow Vetter to get out of his bubble and walk in the outside world. The cumbersome suit was connected to his bubble via an eight-foot (2.5 m) long cloth tube so that he could venture outside without risk of contamination.
On the day David was to receive his gift, many scientists and the press attended to watch the "Bubble Boy" emerge from his bubble. To everyone's disappointment, David refused to wear the suit for the press. A few hours later, after the press had left, he crawled down the tube, but upon pushing his head into the suit he let out a scream and exclaimed, "That's the kind of place where germs live!" He had never taken more than six steps in any direction.
Later he became more comfortable with the suit, but only used it seven times before outgrowing it, never using the replacement suit provided for him by NASA. A few years later, when Vetter watched the
John TravoltaJohn Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
movie based on his life, he laughed when the boy based on him could wear his similar NASA suit right into the bubble without sterilizing it first.
Death
After many years, David's situation became unbearable. The small expectations for finding a cure were still the same as a preteen as when he was a baby. Doctors feared that as a teenager he would become even more unpredictable and uncontrollable. The U.S. government spoke about cutting the research funding as it showed no results and there was a growing debate over the ethics of that experiment, with public opinion becoming less supportive of the project. A total of more than $1.3 million was spent on David's care.
Three years later, at the advice of the original trio of doctors who had encouraged them to have David in the first place, David's parents decided to allow his medical team to perform an unmatched
bone marrowBone marrow is the flexible tissue found in the interior of bones. In humans, bone marrow in large bones produces new blood cells. On average, bone marrow constitutes 4% of the total body mass of humans; in adults weighing 65 kg , bone marrow accounts for approximately 2.6 kg...
transplant, with marrow donated by his sister Katherine. Attempts to find a matched bone marrow donor since his birth had been unsuccessful, and advances had recently been made in unmatched bone marrow operations. Baylor filmed the operation against David's wishes, and the marrow was given to David through intravenous lines running into the bubble.
The transplant operation went well, and for a few months hope was high that David would be able to leave the bubble. However, a few months after the operation, David became sick for the first time in his life; he started having
diarrheaDiarrhea , also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having three or more loose or liquid bowel movements per day. It is a common cause of death in developing countries and the second most common cause of infant deaths worldwide. The loss of fluids through diarrhea can cause dehydration and...
,
feverFever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...
, and severe
vomitingVomiting is the forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose...
from intestinal bleeding. These symptoms were so severe that David had to be taken out of the bubble for treatment. In response to a direct question from his father on whether he wished to be taken out of the bubble, David replied, "Daddy, I will agree to anything to feel better." Out of the bubble, he continued to get worse and sank into a
comaIn medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
; his mother was able to touch his skin for the first and last time before he died. He died 15 days later on February 22, 1984 of
Burkitt's lymphomaBurkitt's lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system...
at the age of 12.
Katherine's
bone marrowBone marrow is the flexible tissue found in the interior of bones. In humans, bone marrow in large bones produces new blood cells. On average, bone marrow constitutes 4% of the total body mass of humans; in adults weighing 65 kg , bone marrow accounts for approximately 2.6 kg...
contained traces of a dormant virus,
Epstein-BarrThe Epstein–Barr virus , also called human herpesvirus 4 , is a virus of the herpes family and is one of the most common viruses in humans. It is best known as the cause of infectious mononucleosis...
, which had been undetectable in the pre-transplant screening. Once inside of David's body, the virus spread and produced hundreds of cancerous tumors, which were revealed in the autopsy.
David had always wanted to try
Coca-ColaCoca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
, after seeing it in many commercials and hearing about it from other children, but the sterilization process required to insert it into the bubble ruined the taste. After he exited the bubble, he requested a Coke. His mother said "[i]t was one of the first things he asked for when he was taken out of his bubble before he died. But the doctors decided he shouldn't have one in his frail condition."
Aftermath
An elementary school in
The WoodlandsThe Woodlands is a master-planned community and a Census-designated place in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. The population of the CDP was 55,649 at the 2000 census—a 90 percent increase over its 1990 population. According to the 2010 census, The Woodlands' population rose...
in unincorporated
Montgomery County, TexasMontgomery County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The county was created by an act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas on December 14, 1837. The county was named for the town of Montgomery, Texas. In 2000, its...
was named David Elementary after Vetter. It opened in 1990.
David's parents later divorced, with his father becoming the mayor of
Shenandoah, TexasShenandoah is a city in Montgomery County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,503 at the 2000 census. David Vetter, the famous "boy in the plastic bubble", was from Shenandoah. In 1986 the Shenandoah city council renamed Tamina School Road to David Memorial Drive in honor of...
and his mother marrying a reporter for
PeopleIn 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine who had written about David's case.
David's psychologist Mary Murphy, whom he called his best friend, said that David asked her to someday write a true accounting of his life. She planned to do so in 1995 with the publication of her book
Was It Worth It? The True Story of David the Bubble Boy, but the book was blocked by the
attorneysA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
of David's parents.
Impact on popular culture
- David's story, along with that of aplastic anemia
Aplastic anemia is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood cells. The condition, per its name, involves both aplasia and anemia...
patient Ted DeVitaTed DeVita was a victim of severe aplastic anemia who was forced to live in a sterile hospital room for eight and a half years....
, directly inspired the widely recognized modern American pop culture reference to the boy in the bubbleBubble boy, boy in the bubble and boy in the plastic bubble are colloquialisms used to describe a person who must live in a microbiologically sterile environment for medical reasons...
. The 1976 made-for-television movie The Boy in the Plastic BubbleThe Boy in the Plastic Bubble is a 1976 made-for-TV movie inspired by the lives of David Vetter and Ted DeVita, who lacked effective immune systems. It stars John Travolta, Glynnis O'Connor, Diana Hyland, Robert Reed, and P.J. Soles...
(starring John TravoltaJohn Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
) was a result of this inspiration.
- David himself was featured regularly on 3-2-1 Contact
3-2-1 Contact is an American science educational television show that aired on PBS from 1980 to 1988, and an adjoining children's magazine. The show, a production of the Children's Television Workshop, teaches scientific principles and their applications. Dr. Edward G...
.
- Vetter's story inspired the 2001 comedy film Bubble Boy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal
Jacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...
.
- The video for Simply Red
Simply Red were a British soul band that sold more than 50 million albums over a 25-year career. Their style drew influences from blue-eyed soul, new romantic, rock, reggae and jazz...
's "The Air That I Breathe"The Air That I Breathe" is a ballad written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, initially recorded by Albert Hammond on his 1972 album It Never Rains In Southern California.-History:...
" is also a nod to Vetter's story.
- An episode of Seinfeld
"The Bubble Boy" is the 47th episode of the American sitcom Seinfeld, as well as the nickname of Donald Sanger, one of the characters in the episode. It is the seventh episode of the fourth season. The episode was written by Larry David and Larry Charles, directed by Tom Cherones, and aired on...
was loosely based on the bubble boy concept.
- The 1986 film Crystal Heart (originally released as Corazón de Cristal) was also inspired by his life.
- The opening song on Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
's 1986 album GracelandGraceland was Paul Simon's highest charting album in the U.S. in over a decade, reaching #3 in the national Billboard charts, receiving a certification of 5× Platinum by the RIAA and eventually selling over 14 million copies, making it Simon's most commercially successful album...
is titled "The Boy in the Bubble." Simon's lyrics deal with the complex human consequences of modern technology, and include the lines "Medicine is magical and magical is art/The boy in the bubble/And the baby with the baboon heart." (The latter reference is to Baby FaeStephanie Fae Beauclair , better known as Baby Fae, was an American infant born in 1984 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. She became the first infant subject of a xenotransplant procedure, receiving the heart of a baboon. The procedure, performed by Leonard L...
, who was the subject of another widely publicized medical experiment that also ended in tragedy.)
External links
- The Boy In The Bubble, American Experience
American Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service Public television stations in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American history...
, PBSThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....