The love story of Katie and Dalton Prager, the couple suffering from cystic fibrosis, can make even the strongest of hearts shed a tear. Referred as the real-life ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ couple, the Pragers’ story has come to a tragic end as Dalton breathed his last on Saturday at the hospital, without meeting his ailing wife one last time.
Dalton was on a ventilator, fighting pneumonia, and his wife was receiving care at her home. The couple did not get a chance to unite for a farewell kiss as Dalton couldn’t recover to be with his ailing wife.
The couple had met when they were teenagers and despite doctors’ warning that Katie might catch the highly infectious Burkholderia cepacia from Dalton, they chose to be together. They knew they were risking their lives but that’s the thing about love, it doesn’t see logic. Alas! Katie did catch the infection and both of them had to be hospitalised for a lung transplant. While Dalton’s lung transplant seemed successful initially, Katie’s lung transplant failed and the doctors finally told the family that she should spend her last days surrounded with her loved ones.
As fate would have it, Dalton caught pneumonia and a viral infection and succumbed to the illness.
Their last meeting happened over Facetime when Katie told her husband how much she loved him.
The last time the couple saw each other was on July 16, the day of their fifth wedding anniversary. As Katie was taken home, the families were hoping for Dalton to recover soon to be with Katie as she counts her last days. But after putting up a great fight in the face if chronic illness, Dalton’s body finally gave up. Katie is now left with the memories of her husband and their five years of togetherness. As she said in an interview once:
“It gave me some of the best years of my life. I’d rather have five years of being in love and just really completely happy than 20 years of not having anybody.”
