The American film Bubble Boy was released in 2001 starring Jake Gyllenhaal. What a lot of people don’t know is that the movie is based on the story of a real boy who has lived his whole life inside a plastic ball.
David Vetter was nicknamed the bubble boy. He was born in September 1971 with a very rare genetic condition, SCID (severe combined immune deficiency), which attacks the immune system so that the body cannot fight infections.
David Vetter in the ball.
Doctors soon realized that little David had to be in a sterilized plastic ball as he was not allowed contact with the outside world.
All his life he stayed in a plastic balloon in a hospital in Houston, USA.
It was a very isolated existence, but despite these severe inhibitions, David made a life for himself inside his bubble. He loved to read science fiction and had big dreams about life outside of plastic.
He was close to his family, but his parents weren’t allowed to touch him.
He was twelve when he first received a kiss from his mother. Then he got very sick and the doctors had to take him out of the plastic ball to examine him. David died soon after, in 1984, of an infection at the age of just twelve.
From DV on February 16, 1984, he died six days later.
Her story has garnered a lot of attention around the world. He became something of a star in the United States, and films and a Broadway musical were made about his story.
It could be said that David’s life and legacy had a profound impact on medical science and society. Her story raised awareness of rare genetic diseases and the importance of research for the benefit of science, as well as the importance of having compassion for patients with serious illnesses.
In 2016, the National Medical Examiner agreed to screen all newborns in Iceland for SCID. The screening was set up at Landspítál’s Department of Immunology in collaboration with the Department of Genetics and Molecular Medicine and Hringins Children’s Hospital, and newborn babies in Iceland have been screened since May 2017.
