The real-life version of the couple depicted in young-adult movie The Fault In Our Stars has died of complications from cystic fibrosis.
Katie Prager’s death on Thursday at the age of 26 occurred a mere five days after the death of her husband, Dalton Prager, 25. Cystic fibrosis is a progressive genetic disease that affects the digestive system and the lungs, and has no cure.
Like the star-crossed young cancer patients in the best-selling novel and 2014 film The Fault in Our Stars, Katie and Dalton’s love story touched the lives of people across the world. The couple met on Facebook when they were both 18 years old, and they bonded over their mutual battle with the disease.
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They were married in 2011 and lived together for a few short years. Their health eventually forced them to live in separate states where they could each receive around-the-clock care from family members. Dalton died last weekend at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in Missouri, surrounded by family while FaceTiming with his wife. He had been placed in the intensive care unit after contracting pneumonia.
Katie, along with Dalton’s mother, Renee, announced his passing on the couple’s Facebook page on Saturday.
“My angel, my best friend, the love of my life, my husband went to be with the Lord our God today. Dalton fought a long hard battle with Cystic Fibrosis,” Katie wrote on Facebook. “He was a courageous fighter and ‘give up’ wasn’t in his vocabulary.”
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Katie died in Kentucky in her own bed, surrounded by family, on Thursday morning.
“Dalton was waiting with open arms, as well as both her grandmothers and a host of family and friends that have gone before her. I know it is selfish to be sad, I had her so many days, but she is in the arms of Jesus today and she can breathe without oxygen, she no longer has to do dialysis and He has taken away all the pain she endured,” her mother posted on Facebook Thursday morning.
The last time Katie and Dalton saw each other in person was on July 16, 2016 for their fifth wedding anniversary.
Katie, who entered hospice care on Sept. 2, set up a YouCaring page to raise money for a “Celebration of Life” after her passing. Dalton’s funeral service took place on Wednesday at Pitzman Funeral Home in Wentzville, Missouri, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Currently, the median lifespan of a person with cystic fibrosis in the U.S. is 40 years old.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation or to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, care of Pitman Funeral Home.