Mother of 'Bubble Boy' co-sponsors bill to extend home infusion services

THE WOODLANDS, Texas (FOX 26) - She's been volunteering at Texas Children's Hospital in the Woodlands for years now.

"I feel a real warm reminder of the past. And I have great expectations of the future."

Her name is Carol Ann Demaret. If that name doesn't ring a bell with you, here's a reminder. Her son David was pretty famous in the seventies and eighties. He was the so-called "Bubble Boy." He was born with a condition called severe combined immune deficiency or SCID. He spent 12years living in a plastic bubble to protect him from infections, occasionally venturing out in a NASA designed suit.

He spent countless hours traveling to and from hospitals for treatments. That's why his mother has been supporting a bill co-sponsored by Woodlands Congressman Kevin Brady. It would extend and improve home infusion services so patients like David could spend more time at home and less time in hospitals.

"It's not easy. You can't just say, 'this is what I want to do today' and have it voted on tomorrow. It's doesn't work that way," she says.

Now the bill has cleared the House unanimously. It's too late for David, and in fact she says it probably wouldn't have saved his life, but that's not the point as far as she's concerned. She knows there are others with compromised immune systems. There are other Davids and other mothers like her. Other people it can help even more than her volunteer work.

"Anything we can do. That's pretty understood. Anything you can do to make this world a better place to be, you have an obligation to do it," she says.

Now it has to go to the Senate. Brady is confident it will pass, but you never know. This is Washington D.C.