NPR

Opinion: The Doctor And 'The Boy In The Bubble'

In his essay this week, NPR's Scott Simon remembers William T. Shearer, who died this week at the age of 81. He was the doctor of "The Boy In The Bubble."
David Vetter plays in the enclosed plastic environment that he had to stay in to survive.

As 12-year-old David Vetter was about to die at Texas Children's Hospital in 1984, he gave a last wink to his doctor, William T. Shearer. His wife told us Dr. Shearer carried that moment through the rest of his life.

Dr. Shearer, a professor of pediatrics at

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