Documentary · History

The Boy in the Bubble

On February 22, 1984, Carol Ann Vetter touched her 12-year-old son's hand for the first time. David Vetter had spent his entire life inside a sterile isolator, with a protective layer of plastic shielding him from the world around him. Afflicted with a rare hereditary disease, severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), David was defenseless against any germs. Now, his doctors were gambling on an experimental procedure to free him from his isolation — but David would live only two weeks in the outside world before succumbing to infection. American Experience presents The Boy in the Bubble, a story of medical perseverance and personal tragedy. With first-hand recollections from David's mother and the doctors, nurses, therapists, and the chaplain who cared for him, as well those who were critical of the handling of his case, this film documents the life of a little boy who became a living experiment in a fight to cure a rare disease.