John Green's novel "Fault In our Stars," which was also adapted as a movie and was released last year, is reportedly a story of a real life couple who both has cystic fibrosis.
According to CNN, these two were identified as Katie Donovan and Dalton Prager who are both suffering from lung-related issues and they exchanged messages on Facebook. Donovan initiated the conversation reaching out to Prager saying that if he ever needs a friend to talk to, she is there for him although they do not know each other.
According to the report, the two could not be near each other yet because patients with such disease can share infections that could worsen their lung conditions. However, this did not stop them as Donovan asked Prager to visit her last 2009 at her home in Flemingsburg, Kentucky as Prager was from St. Charles, Missouri.
Both of their health started to deteriorate and they were both on oxygen tanks. The two were too ill to even work so they both quit their jobs. However, in 2014, they both went to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) to sign up for a lung transplant. Prager's new lungs came in first on Nov. 17 of last year and the transplant was a success.
However, Donovan's insurance policies could no longer cover her hospital bills so she had to be transferred to a smaller hospital. The problem is that these smaller hospitals could not do transplants so she needs to have her surgery at the UPMC but she can no longer be accepted because Medicaid, a health care insurance system, is not enrolled at the said hospital.
Due to the situation of Donovan, YouCaring, a medical fundraiser site, has put up a page for people to be able to help her. In the page, Prager shared that he is reaching out to people who will see their plea as he wants to help his wife and the love of his life. Donovan and Prager already got married two years after they met.
Medicaid, Medicare and UPMC are reportedly already working on a possible solution for Donovan's situation.