ST. LOUIS (AP) - A Kentucky woman afflicted by cystic fibrosis died Thursday, five days after losing her husband to the same genetic lung disease.
Andrew Carpenter, the owner of Carpenter, Fritz & Vice Funeral Home in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, confirmed 26-year-old Katie Prager's death and said funeral arrangements are pending.
Prager's husband, 25-year-old Dalton Prager, died Saturday at a St. Louis hospital of the disease, which clogs the lungs with mucus and forces patients to struggle to breathe. The median survival age is about 40.
The couple was married in 2011. Dalton Prager moved back to suburban St. Louis after a 2014 lung transplant so his parents could care for him. They were last together for their fifth anniversary in July, and until his death last weekend, Dalton had hoped to see his wife one last time before she passed away.
Katie received a lung transplant last year, later developed lymphoma and went into hospice care in Flemingsburg, writing recently 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.
Last Saturday, Katie Prager's family went ahead with an early Christmas celebration for her. Dalton's death was too hard for her to discuss, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
"I'll see him soon," she said.