When Chris and Lori faced the indescribable pain of losing their three beautiful children - they thought it was never going to be possible to feel anything but endless pain and heartache. But then something extraordinary happened - this story will give you goosebumps.
It is the stuff of nightmares. In May, 2007, just one day after her son Kyle's 5th birthday, Lori Coble was waiting in traffic in the family's minivan with Kyle, his sister's Emma - 4 and Katie - 2, as well as Lori's mum Cindy when a 20 tonne truck travelling at nearly 90km an hour slammed into the back of their van.
The horrific and brutal accident took the lives of her three beautiful children, forcing Lori, along with her husband Chris into an unimaginable future of grief and despair.
But just six months later, Lori and Chris found themselves pregnant again. This time with triplets ... one little boy and two little girls.
The trauma was so severe that the family was split up between hospitals
After running some errands, which included a ride on a ferris wheel at a local mall and a visit to a pet store, Lori, her mum and the children were making their way home before nap time. They hit a line of backed-up traffic, Lori turned to see Katie beginning to nod off, in an attempt to keep her awake, Lori tickled her sweet baby's toes, and that's when her whole world turned upside down.
The truck slammed into the back of her car, Lori was knocked unconscious and all of her three children were severely injured in a trauma so horrific that emergency services on the scene had to split up the family to get them the medical attention they needed. Cindy and Lori went to one hospital, Kyle and Katie to another, and Emma to a third.
'I'm sorry, but Katie has expired'
At work when the accident occurred, Chris was notified by the authorities and headed straight to nearest hospital where his wife and mother-in-law were.
In a 2011 interview with Oprah, Chris described what happened next: "A doctor told me, 'I'm sorry, but Katie has expired.' A few more minutes went by, and they told me there was a call from the doctor from Saddleback Hospital. I got on the phone, and the first thing I said was, 'Please tell me Emma's alive.' And he said, 'I'm sorry, but Emma has expired,'" Chris says.
"I just dropped the phone. I just couldn't believe that it was happening."
'I held my hand on his chest until his heart stopped beating'
Chris then rushed to the hospital where his son Kyle was, but soon hope was dashed there when doctors told him that Kyle's brain had not been receiving any oxygen, and that it was recommended that he be taken off life-support.
Lori, with her own injuries, was transported to say goodbye to her son.
Chris tells Oprah: "She's climbing out of the wheelchair the best she can to hug Kyle and saying: 'He's got to go be with his sisters now. His sisters are waiting for him'."
"We stopped life support, and the machines went dark and the room went dark. I held my hand on his chest until his heart stopped beating. And he was gone."
A life without your three angels
Chris and Lori's family worried about the couple as they faced life in their once boisterous house, that now lay silent
Lori's mum, Cindy said: "One day I went over to their house because she wasn't answering the phone and I started to think, 'Maybe they're going to hurt themselves,' because I knew how much pain I was in losing my grandchildren,"
And while life was almost unbearably difficult, the universe had other plans for Chris and Lori's house.
Almost exactly one year after Kyle, Emma and Katie died, Lori gave birth to triplets - Ashley, Ellie and Jake.
'I think Kyle, Emma, and Katie had something to do with this'
Lori and Chris are very clear that their new family will never replace the children that they lost, but Ashley, Ellie and Jake certainly helped to bring joy back into their lives.
"They'll never replace Kyle, Emma and Katie," Lori says in an interview with Meredith Vieira.
'It’s hard to think that somehow they weren’t involved in crafting this'
“I think it’s a miracle. I think Kyle, Emma, and Katie had something to do with this. I think they helped us, I think they made this possible,”
And Chris agrees: “Your mind can’t even think otherwise. If you feel they’re somewhere watching over you, protecting you, and something like this happens, it’s hard to think that somehow they weren’t involved in crafting this."
Since the accident, Chris, Lori and their family have taken on America's trucking industry to try and ensure that what happened to them, doesn't ever happen to anyone else. They also took on the state to make the road where the accident happened, which has a blind spot, much safer.
The couple urge the United States to adopt the same laws that are in place in Europe, and many other countries ,that require onboard computers in trucks to track their speed and location through a GPS system.
“This has dramatically cut down on truck deaths in other countries,” Chris Coble said in an interview with Today. “I want to ask lawmakers and everyone else, ‘How come we can’t have that same policy in this country?’ We’re woefully behind.”
'The driver was a very kind-hearted, gentle person'
Incredibly, the couple have forgiveness for the driver of the truck, Jorge Romero, a father-of-three himself.
Lori and Chris met Romero at his trial, where he was convicted on three counts of vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced to a year in jail.
"Mr Romero was actually a very kind-hearted, gentle person," Chris says.
"Just by telling this story you might jump to vilify somebody right away, but there is someone behind the wheel, and while they shared some of the blame in this tragedy, he just felt absolutely horrible."
