The Coble Family Has Endured the Kind of Pain Most People Will Never Experience

It was a day like any other for Lori Coble, who put her three young children into the family's minivan so they could enjoy a nearby carnival. Lori and her husband, Chris, were parents to 5-year-old Kyle, 4-year-old Emma, and 2-year-old Katie. Chris didn't go, but Lori was joined by her mom, Cindy. After the kids rode a few rides and got a bit sleepy, it was time to go. This is when the Cobles' lives were changed forever.

While driving down Interstate 5 in Southern California, their vehicle was struck from behind by a "big rig loaded with 40,000 pounds of cargo going 55 miles per hour," per Oprah.com. The severity of everyone's injuries forced first responders to send the Cobles to three different hospitals. Lori and Cindy lived, but the three children died.

Chris was at work when police notified him of the accident. He dropped everything and went to the hospital that his wife and mother-in-law had been taken to. When he got there, a doctor told him his daughter Katie had died. Minutes later, Chris received a call from a doctor at another hospital who delivered the devastating news that his other daughter, Emma, had died. "I just dropped the phone," recalled Chris. "I just couldn't believe that it was happening."

Although Kyle was still holding on, he suffered severe brain damage. Doctors recommended he be taken off life support. Lori and Chris were brought to Kyle's hospital in order to say goodbye. While Lori climbed out of the wheelchair to hug her son, Chris kept his hand on Kyle's chest until his heart stopped beating.

After shutting themselves off from the world for a few months, Lori and Chris decided they wanted to have more kids. "We always described ourselves at that point as 'parents without children,'" said Chris. Their whole lives were dedicated to them, and they loved it. Due to medical reasons, Lori and Chris used IVF, which led to the birth of their triplets almost a year after Katie, Emma, and Kyle were killed. They were overjoyed, but grief wasn't done with them yet.

Nearly 20 years after the Cobles suffered through an unimaginable amount of pain, Lori was diagnosed with brain cancer, specifically a large and aggressive stage 4 glioblastoma. "I was hoping we were done with the life-changing, life-altering disasters where life as you knew it yesterday is gone," Chris told People in an exclusive interview.

In June 2025, Chris noticed Lori was suddenly very clumsy. She kept running into stuff and dropping things. Then, in July, Chris noticed Lori's mouth started dropping on one side. "It became too much to ignore," he said. After her diagnosis, Chris said he immediately began mourning Lori. After two surgeries, doctors discovered an infection in Lori's brain in November. The following month, Lori had another infection in her lungs and was dealing with pneumonia.

Lori entered into hospice care in December. On Jan. 21, 2026 she died at the age of 48. Chris wrote one sentence on Facebook: Lori passed at 9:25pm this evening. A GoFundMe has been set up for the family.