Can Someone please give me some Advice?

There is a gut that I have been talking to for 9 months. We met over a chat line (Flyleaf Say Now,) But we are very close and talk everyday He lives in Tennessee and I live in Missouri. He fell in love with me and is ABSOLUTELY crazy about me. He writes me poems and lpays me love songs and he honestly is in love with me. The only thing is........ He is disabled. It doesn't bother me at all, because he is one of the sweetest young men I have ever come across in my life. But my family is afraid that If I do fall for him too hard that I will be hurt. They think he is going to die. We plan on meeting soon, and he wants to take me to his senior prom and we want to marry. But I have one question: Is Spina Bifida hereditary? If we decide to have children, will it be ped to them? And is the disease terminal?