Slideshow: Sad Story of 'Boy in the Bubble'

Little more than an inflated balloon, the isolator was fed with a constant flow of filtered air. A five-foot-by-three-foot living chamber, connected to a smaller supply bubble, was the only protection keeping David Vetter safe from germs that would wreak havoc on his immune system.

For twelve years David Vetter, born with combined immune deficiency, lived inside this plastic bubble at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas, waiting for a cure to the disease that kept him prisoner.

As David's doctors searched for a cure for SCID, he became a research subject as well as a patient, giving researchers an unprecedented opportunity to learn about the disease. "Here is a child who over time has so many punctures that his feet start to look like pincushions," says historian James Jones in the film.

Immunologist Rafael Wilson (right) led David's care, and created the isolator to keep the newborn alive and germ-free until a bone marrow transplant could be performed.

As David grew from a toddler to an energetic boy, he became more aware of his limitations, and containing him was increasingly difficult.

In 1975, NASA designed a miniature space suit for then five-year old David, which briefly allowed him to explore the world outside the hospital. After just six excursions, a terrified David refused to wear the suit, afraid the germs in the outside world destroy him.