Parents remember real-life ‘Fault in Our Stars’ couple

One year after the death of the real-life ‘Fault in Our Stars’ couple, their parents say they’re still in touch with them – even beyond the grave.

Last September, Dalton and Katie Prager both died from cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that damages the lungs and the digestive system.

Dalton, 25, passed away on September 18 while staying in a hospital in Missouri and paying his wife a final goodbye on FaceTime.

Katie, 26, died just five days later, confined to hospice care at her Kentucky home.

Last September, Dalton and Katie Prager (left and right) both died – five days apart – from cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease that damages the lungs and the digestive system

The couple met on Facebook in 2009 and bonded over their shared illness. They began visiting each other and married in July 2011 (pictured)

The couple met on Facebook in 2009 and bonded over their shared illness. They began visiting each other and married in July 2011 (pictured)

One year after their death, their families say they communicate with them beyond the grave (Pictured, Katie)

Renee Strauser, Dalton's mother, says smells will often waft through her home at 2am or 3am and she know it's her oldest son (pictured) - who loved to cook in the wee hours of the morning

One year after their death, their families say they communicate with them beyond the grave. Renee Strauser, Dalton’s mother, says smells will often waft through her home at 2am or 3am and she know it’s her oldest son – who loved to cook in the wee hours of the morning (Pictured, left, Katie, and right, Dalton)

Renee Strauser, Dalton’s mother, told Mirror Online smells will often waft through her home at 2am or 3am and she know it’s her oldest son – who loved to cook in the wee hours of the morning.

She also says she knows Dalton is still around when her three-year-old son, Sam, wakes up in the morning and tells her he’s just been hugged and kissed.

‘His three-year-old brother said: “Dalton was here this morning and gave him a kiss and a hug”, Renee told the website.

‘I asked what he had said, he said he didn’t talk. Just gave him a hug and a kiss. Dalton always told me he would be close, like in a different realm but right next to me.’

Strauser was there when her son, who was at St Louis’s Barnes-Jewish Hospital, made the last FaceTime call to his wife, who was nearly 400 miles away.

‘I had an iPad and they talked,’ she said.

‘Dalton was hallucinating due to the toxins in his blood. Katie talked mostly, telling him she would see him as soon as the plane landed in Kentucky.’

Debra Donovan, Katie’s mother, said at the time that her daughter told him that she loved him.

‘We don’t know if he heard her,’ she said. 

Dalton (left) was also a carrier of a dangerous bacteria, though this did not deter Katie (right), who eventually caught the disease, from continuing to see him against doctors' orders

Dalton (left) was also a carrier of a dangerous bacteria, though this did not deter Katie (right), who eventually caught the disease, from continuing to see him against doctors’ orders

Dalton (left, with Katie) underwent a lung transplant in November 2014 and was seemingly on his way to living a full life before learning he had lymphoma - a cancer of the lymphatic system

Dalton (left, with Katie) underwent a lung transplant in November 2014 and was seemingly on his way to living a full life before learning he had lymphoma – a cancer of the lymphatic system

WHAT IS CYSTIC FIBROSIS? 

Cystic fibrosis is an incurable genetic disease that affects around 70,000 people worldwide.

A defective gene causes a build-up of mucus in the airwaves, making it increasingly difficult to breathe over time.

Mucus also blocks the natural release of digestive enzymes, meaning the body does not break down food as it should.

Signs and symptoms:

  • A persistent cough that produces thick mucus (sputum)
  • Wheezing
  • Breathlessness
  • Exercise intolerance
  • Repeated lung infections
  • Inflamed nasal passages or a stuffy nose 

While healthy people cough naturally, that does not happen for people with CF.

Eventually, lung function depletes to the point that sufferers will need a double lung transplant to survive. 

The Pragers – dubbed ‘The Fault in Our Stars couple’ after the novel about a pair of teenagers who fall in love despite both battling cancer – met on Facebook in 2009 and bonded over their shared terminal illness of cystic fibrosis.

Doctors warned them that dangers were posed by meeting in person, especially for Katie as Dalton had Burkholderia cepacia.

This dangerous bacteria, which Katie eventually did contract, is known to have adverse effects on the lungs and can cause death, even with treatment.

She still asked Dalton to visit her on her birthday. 

‘That is all Katie wanted for her birthday so Dalton and I went to Kentucky to visit. That was in September. Katie moved to Missouri in January,’ Strauser said.

Dalton and Katie eventually married in 2011.  

Loved ones said their relationship saw them support each other through the day-to-day challenges of their genetic disease.

They also went on vacation together, took on college courses and stood by each other through every struggle.

Dalton underwent a lung transplant in November 2014 and was seemingly on his way to living a full life.

But then it was learned that he had lymphoma – a cancer of the lymphatic system. After completing treatment for the cancer, he was hospitalized with pneumonia and a viral infection.

Katie (left, with Dalton) also received a lung transplant before later developing lymphoma and entering hospice care

Katie (left, with Dalton) also received a lung transplant before later developing lymphoma and entering hospice care

The couple saw each other last on July 16, 2016, their fifth wedding anniversary, two months before they both died (pictured, July 2011)

The couple saw each other last on July 16, 2016, their fifth wedding anniversary, two months before they both died (pictured, July 2011)

Strauser said that right before his death, Dalton (right), who was in Missouri, paid Katie (left), who was in hospice care in Kentucky, a final goodbye on FaceTime

Strauser said that right before his death, Dalton (right), who was in Missouri, paid Katie (left), who was in hospice care in Kentucky, a final goodbye on FaceTime

Katie would endure her own share of health challenges.

She too received a lung transplant, later developed lymphoma, and went into hospice care, writing on a fundraising page for her medical and funeral expenses that ‘I get to spend the rest of my time surrounded by people and things that make me happy’.

The top of her wish list, a visit from her husband, never happened.

The couple saw each other last on July 16, 2016, their fifth wedding anniversary. 

‘Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong,’ Katie told the Lexington Herald-Leader the same month she died. ‘I just want to pass natural.’

Katie had started a crowdfunding campaign at YouCaring to help pay for her ‘celebration of life’ after her death.

‘I just want everybody to have fun and not worry,’ she said. ‘I just want to have enough money that my parents don’t have to worry after I’m gone.’ 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk