David Vetter

David Phillip Vetter ( born September 21, 1971, † 22 February 1984) was an American boy from Shenandoah, Texas, who was the hereditary Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID ), a severe combined immunodeficiency born. Due to illness, David had no defenses against all kinds of pathogens.

David became famous cousin as " bubble boy " because he spent his whole life in a sterile plastic insulator. Staying in the plastic protective layer that David shielded from the outside world, was a success of science for many. For others, it was just a fanciful experiment that demonstrated the superiority of medicine.

Life

David was placed directly after the birth of the doctors at the Children's Hospital in Houston in a sterile plastic box. The imaginary as a transitional shield turned out over the years, however, as the only possible method of treatment to protect David against pathogens.

According to the three doctors attending the physical development of the child was normal. First, there were problems when the boy damaged the plastic layer with an object. Thereafter, one of the doctors explained the boy on the consequences of his actions. David's mental state deteriorated after this release.

The boy's mental condition was after the assessment of a child psychologist, David supervised several years, not comparable with a normal child of the same age. The boy had a one-dimensional view of the world and therefore could not understand much. He knew no wind for example.

Therefore, NASA is designed for David a special protective suit, with whom he could leave the hospital temporarily. The boy was wearing the suit at the age of five years for the first time. Due to the uncontrollable fear of the boy, pathogens may enter into the suit, there were only six outings.

At the age of twelve years, first chances of recovery were opened. David received on 21 October 1983, a bone marrow transplant from his sister. Early 1984, however, the boy's health condition deteriorated massively since a latent Epstein -Barr virus passed through the transplant into his body, which was not discovered in the investigation of the donor marrow. On February 7, 1984 David finally had to be freed from the plastic insulation and died on 22 February 1984, a Burkitt 's lymphoma. David's mother Carol Ann Vetter kissed on the day of his death for the first time her son David.

The boy's treatment received worldwide attention. Below won immunologists and hematologists known about the characteristics of germ-free blood.

The boy in the bubble ( song / film )

• The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976 ) with John Travolta
• 1987 was written by the Paul Simon song " Boy In The Bubble " 86 weeks in the U.S. charts and 26 weeks on the UK charts.
• Barak Goodman, John Maggio: The boy in the bubble film documentary (53 mins), USA, 2006
• Bubble Boy life behind plastic film from 2001 with Jake Gyllenhaal