Parents Touch Their ‘Bubble Boy’ for First Time Since March Birth

The parents of a 5-month-old boy touched their son Thursday for the first time since he was born, thanks to a bone marrow transplant from his father that helps him fight viral infections.

Christopher Chase Cobb, who suffers from severe combined immune deficiency, left his sterile hospital room where he has lived since his birth on March 25.

Since his birth, Chase, as his parents call him, has lived in a “bubble” environment at the hospital, which is a room with a controlled, sterile atomosphere.

“I’m delighted now,” said Lori Cobb of Hinton, W. Va., who held her son to her cheek at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

“It’s been hard. I’ve been here for five months. I’ve never been allowed to touch my baby without protective clothing on . . . and he’s been on the same floor where my first baby died,” she said.

Chase was the second child of Lori Cobb, 22, and her husband, Thomas, to be born with the congenital disease, said Dr. Richard Harris, director of the hospital’s bone marrow transplant unit. The disease leaves victims without T-cells, which are needed to fight viral infections.

The couple’s first child, Brandon, died of a viral infection two years ago at the age of 7 months.

Harris said the disease is rare and appears only when present in the genes of both parents. While it can be fatal, he said 70% to 80% of its victims survive with bone marrow transplants, a treatment that has helped about 100 babies worldwide.

Chase’s chances for survival are excellent because the ailment was detected at birth and because he received a bone marrow transplant from his father, Harris said.