Man with cystic fibrosis dies before seeing his dying wife

Katie and Dalton Prager, a real-life “Fault in our Stars’ couple”.

“Dalton fought a long hard battle with Cystic Fibrosis. ‘He was a courageous fighter and ‘give up” wasn’t in his vocabulary’.

Dalton, 25, died on Saturday at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St Louis, far away from wife Katie, who was at a hospital in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, at the time.

The prognosis is not any better for Dalton’s wife, Katie is suffering from complications of a lung transplant. Just hours after Dalton passed, the woman celebrated what will likely be her last holiday with loved ones.

“Our situation hasn’t been ideal, and it hasn’t been the easiest, but the one thing I want people to know is that we still have each other even if it is long-distance”, she told the Post-Dispatch last week.

After knowing their story, CNN, The Washington Post, and other local, national, and worldwide media started calling the pair the “Real “Fault in Our Stars” couple”, after John Green’s best-selling novel turned into a movie.

Technology allowed them to have some sense of closeness, as the “couple FaceTimed as Dalton was dying”. They fell in love with each other on Facebook. Doctors warn strongly against close contact between CF patients because they can swap unsafe bacteria, jeopardizing their health.

Dalton and Katie met in 2009 and married two years later at age 20.

After finding hope and a future in each other’s company, both had pursued life-prolonging lung transplants. Still, Katie has no regrets.

Katie’s family went ahead with an early Christmas celebration for her on Saturday in Kentucky.

But soon, Katie’s transplant began to fail.

“Today.September 17, 2016 at 12:56 Dalton Lee Prager joined his sister, Samantha, and grandfather, Larry, in Heaven”.

But, Dalton later developed lymphoma. Katie Prager, 26, never fully recovered and moved home to Kentucky and went on hospice care. He dressed sharply, and enjoyed spending time outside in nature.

Unfortunately, the transplant failed, and doctors told her that they had no other ways to help her. He was again hospitalised recently with pneumonia and a viral infection.

Dalton’s funeral will be held in Missouri, where his family lives, this Wednesday. A GoFundMe page was set up to cover Dalton’s remaining medical bills and funeral expenses. “I’d rather have five years of being in love and just really completely happy than 20 years of not having anybody”, stated Mrs. Prager to CNN.

You are reading news and information on LongIsland.com, Long Island’s Most Popular Website, Since 1996.