Man with cystic fibrosis dies before seeing his dying wife

ST. LOUIS -- A Missouri man's wish to see his wife one last time before she dies of cystic fibrosis ended with his own death from the same disease.

Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis said Dalton Prager died Saturday.

He was 25.

Dalton and his 26-year-old wife, Katie, were married in 2011 despite their struggles with the life-threatening genetic disease that clogs the lungs with mucus and forces patients to struggle to breathe.

The median survival age is about 40.

Dalton moved back to suburban St. Louis after a lung transplant in 2014 so his parents could care for him.

Katie received a lung transplant last year and since has developed lymphoma and kidney failure.

She's in hospice care in Flemingsburg, Kentucky.

They last were together for their fifth anniversary in July. Dalton had hoped to get will enough to visit Katie again.

"Decisions have been made that aren't meant to be made by someone in their 20s with their whole life ahead of them," Katie wrote recently on a fundraising page for her medical and funeral expenses. "There are too many things going on in my body to be able to fix everything. ... I get to spend the rest of my time surrounded by people and things that make me happy."

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

Dalton badly wanted to get out of the hospital to visit Katie, his mother told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch last week.

"He has tried so many times, and he has tried so hard. Unfortunately, his body is not agreeing with what he wants to do," Renee Prager said.

Katie's family held an early Christmas celebration for her Saturday in Kentucky.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported talking about Dalton's death was too hard for her.

"I'll see him soon," she said.