If you’re anything like me, then you love to read anything you can get your hands on and you are on the more emotional side of the spectrum. Now when you combine these two attributes, you typically will grow deep attachments to some or all books that you come across in your lifetime. I don’t know what it is, but if a book can make me feel a strong emotion during the entirety of me reading it (usually I end up crying) then I will always at one point go back and re read it.
One of these books that I had a deep connection with was ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ by John Green. Call me a basic bitch if you must but I will never deny how much I fell in love with this book, the characters and the heart wrenching plot and no I didn’t jump onto this band wagon because of the movie; I will almost ALWAYS read the book before the movie comes out because I get so much more gratification but thats a whole other topic to talk about. I wont spoil anything if you haven’t read the book or watched the movie yet but I will insist that you do so as soon as possible because you will feel all kinds of ways and they wont all be happy.
On to why I am talking about The Fault In Our Stars months after it has come out, we have found the real life Fault In Our Stars couple. Katie and Dalton Prager met online around the time that they were 18 while they were both dealing with cystic fibrosis; it’s a genetic disorder that damages the lungs and digestive system. Despite the fact that Dalton also had Burkholderia cepacia, which can be very dangerous for anyone with cystic fibrosis and Katie’s doctors told her not to meet with him at risk of contracting the disease as well, she had a strong feeling that she needed to meet him; she made the right decision in my eyes and I know all of you were desperate to know my opinion. Just as Hazel and Augustus they slowly fell in love and two years later they married. I so desperately wish that I could tell you all that they lived happily ever after and this is the end of story but regretfully I cant so be prepared to have your hearts torn in half and shredded to pieces just as I have.
Despite the fact that I can't tell you this story has a happy ending, I can tell you that they were happily married for five years. They cherished each other and got the most of the five years that they possible could. Unfortunately this past month at the age of 25 Dalton passed away and as if that isn't hard enough to get over, five days later Katie died as well both due to cystic fibrosis complications. Just after her husband, Dalton, died Katie explained that she didn’t regret meeting him that day because she would rather have spent five happy years with him than 20 years without him. I think that really speaks levels of the kind of love they had. She knew that meeting him would shorten her lifespan drastically but she didn't care because the love they felt was more powerful than her fear of dying.
In honor of Katie and Dalton I have brought out my copy of the Fault In Our Stars and will re-read (maybe a couple hundred times or until my heart has pieced itself back together) it for them. I know that I didn’t know them on a personal level but I'm delighted to know that they were able to find each other and help each other. I hope that one day I can find a love like theirs because I find it inspiring, heartbreaking, and magical.
