Lori Coble, the mother of teenage triplets, who lost her first three children in a car crash, has died. She was 48.
According to a family friend, she passed away surrounded by family.
In 2007, she lost her three children aged between 2 and 5, in a car crash.
She and her husband struggled for many months, coping with the devastation. It wasn’t until a year later, that they decided to try getting pregnant again.
A year after the devastating crash, the pair had triplets. They decided to name them each with an older sibling’s middle name.
For the next 16 years, Lori and Chris devoted their time and energy to raising their family.
However, last summer, Chris began to notice something was wrong. His wife was getting more clumsy, running into walls, dropping glasses on the floor, and stubbing her toe on chairs.
In early July, he noticed she had stroke-like symptoms; her mouth started to droop on one side.
Later that month, Lori was diagnosed with stage four glioblastoma – a type of aggressive brain cancer.
Chris said he began to mourn the loss of his wife the day she received her diagnosis.
Over the next several months, Lori underwent two surgeries to remove the brain tumor.
The second surgery was especially invasive, leaving her without control of her left side.
A few days after the procedure, she also had a stroke and was placed in a medically-induced coma. She spent 40 days in the hospital, with Chris by her side nearly every day.
After several weeks, Lori regained a bit of her strength and she was sent home. However, she would regularly go back to the hospital for radiation and chemotheraphy.
Over time, however, it became obvious that the treatment was making things worse; she began to feel more tired and had trouble with her speech.
In mid-November, Chris rushed her to the emergency room, where doctors discovered a large infection in her brain. She needed another surgery.
In early December, Lori had recovered enough to set up a Zoom interview. But just one day before it was scheduled, she developed pneumonia and a lung infection and had to go back to the hospital.
Not long after, she was brought home to receive hospice care. It was a difficult time for everyone, including her teenage children.
On January 21, Chris announced on Facebook that Lori had passed away peacefully surrounded by her loved ones.
A GoFundMe has since been set up to support the family, and at the time of writing, it has raised more than $330,000 toward its $350,000 goal.
