A woman recalled the horror of waking up from a coma to be told her toddler son and unborn baby had died in a crash, before losing her husband to the same collision months later.
Elber Twomey from Cork, Ireland was on holiday in Torquay, Devon with her husband Con and 16-month-old son Oisin when they collided head-on with a suicidal driver who was on the wrong side of the road.
Oisin was killed in the crash, which happened in July 2012, and 38-year-old Con died from his injuries 10 months later.
Elber, who was pregnant at the time, lost her unborn baby girl Elber Marie, and spent weeks in a coma fighting for her life.
She said being told what had happened was like "waking up in a nightmare".
Speaking as the 10th anniversary of the unspeakable tragedy approaches in two months time, Elber recounted the worst period of her life, referring to her two children as Little Man and Little Lady.
“We had literally six magical days and day seven was a bit like this morning - it was wet and miserable and we took Little Man for a swim and we ended up in the pool,” she told Newstalk Breakfast on Friday.
“And we were headed out to lunch and we were going for a little play in an indoor play centre and the next thing I remember is it was almost the end of July.
Recounting the horrific part she can't recall she added: "In the meantime, on our way we had been involved in a serious road traffic collision with a suicidal driver Mark and Mark at the time been followed by the police.
“He crashed into us and it claimed the Little Man and Little Lady and left Con and myself fighting for our lives.
“I woke up at the end of July to be told what had happened and needless to mention it was like waking up in a nightmare.”
When asked how she is doing now, Elber said: “I’m good, thank God.
“Obviously they’re in my head every day. If they weren’t there’d be something wrong.”
In the years since the tragedy, Elber has been campaigning in her family's names.
She wants to raise awareness over suicide and suicidal drivers in the hope that other families can be spared the daily pain she endures.
“[The police officer] was never trained in suicidal awareness,” Elber said.
“Obviously, suicidal drivers thanks be to God are not a very common thing, but I started my campaign then [for the police] to at least have the basic training and then I did a few presentations with the police.”
