The Real Life ‘Fault In Our Stars’ Couple: Cystic Fibrosis Patients Reunited After Five Months Apart


The couple, who is being referred to as the real life Fault in Our Stars couple, Katie and Dalton Prager, have been reunited after more than five months apart, and they have something very special to celebrate: Katie is on her way to getting new lungs.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Katie and Dalton both have Cystic Fibrosis, a life-threatening condition that attacks the person’s lungs and digestive system.

Katie has Kentucky Medicaid insurance, which previously denied her request for out-of-state treatments at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, including a lung transplant.

Finally, a breakthrough happened when Kentucky Medicaid issued a statement saying that they would issue a provider number to UPMC.

“Everyone has the best interests of the patient at heart, and are working collaboratively to overcome any further administrative hurdles,” said Jill Midkiff, a Kentucky Medicaid spokeswoman.

“I can confirm that UPMC Presbyterian has been enrolled in Kentucky Medicaid, and we are working to complete enrollment of some of our physicians,” said Wendy Zellner, a spokeswoman for UPMC. “Kentucky Medicaid executives are helping us to get this done in a streamlined fashion that overcomes previous administrative hurdles and misunderstandings in this complex case.”

CNN was the first to report Katie and Dalton’s predicament and Katie says that CNN will always hold a special place in her heart.

“Without CNN I don’t think any of this would have been possible,” Katie said in a statement. “I am so thankful for all the support that Dalton and I have received from people all over the world. CNN will always hold a special place in my heart because they have ultimately played a huge part in saving my life.”

Katie and Dalton have been apart since November of 2014, due to Dalton’s lung transplant. Because he could not risk getting an infection, he was forced to stay away from his wife, who was being treated at the University of Kentucky.

On Monday, Dalton’s doctors released him from Pittsburgh. On Tuesday, he was headed to see Katie. Although he couldn’t touch her, he was able to stand at the door and talk to her.

“It’s indescribable. My heart — well, it was like walking through a forest and a deer crosses your path. It just took my breath away.”

While waiting to hear from the insurance companies, Dalton set up a fundraiser for his wife on Youcaring.com. He set a goal of $50,000 and has surpassed that goal by nearly $1,000. He has reset the goal to raise $150,000.

Yesterday, Dalton issued a statement, via Facebook, thanking everyone for the overwhelming amount of support that they have received.

“So we opened our you caring page at $50k, now that we have reached this goal we hope to continue to get closer to what we really need to get on the other side of our transplants.

“If and WHEN our insurance issues are resolved this will pay for a substantial part of that million dollar surgery. However, we are still looking at a portion of that amount for my transplant, living expenses to rent an apartment for at least 3 month in Pittsburgh, and extremely expensive post transplant medicine and procedures.

“All of this times two people.

“We are overwhelmed by the love and support we have been shown and we can’t thank you enough for helping us to keep that hope that we will live happily TOGETHER again and most importantly to be healthy!”

[Photo via Facebook/Katie Prager]

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