Tributes flow for mum Koby Poole and children after fatal crash

Thousands of dollars have been donated in an online fundraiser to support the family of a mother killed in a fiery crash outside the Royal Women’s last week.

Hundreds of Melburnians have thrown their support behind the family of Koby Poole, who died with her two young kids in a horror crash outside the Royal Women’s Hospital last week.

An online fundraiser to support Ms Poole’s surviving sons has attracted more than 900 donations totalling $56,000.

Friend Cheryl Gherin, who started the fundraiser, said the Cheltenham family had “literally been torn apart” and donations would help support Ms Koby’s surviving sons, who have a rare gastronomical disease called Tyrosinemia.

Koby Poole.

Koby Poole with her son, Harrison.

“The accident has been widely reported in the news media and has hence seen a significant outpouring of support from the broader Melbourne community,” Ms Gherin wrote.

“Funds raised will be disbursed towards ongoing care of Lachlan and Liam, in managing their rare medical condition.”

The Cheltenham mother-of-four, her eight-year-old daughter, Chloe, and 20-month old son, Harrison, were killed when their car struck a pole and burst into flames outside the Royal Women’s Hospital last Friday.

Ms Poole, 35, has been remembered for her kind, caring soul.

Dad Craig, Chloe, Liam, Lachlan, Koby Poole and Harrison.

She was a geriatric nurse at Monash Health’s Kingston Centre and had two other sons with a rare genetic and potentially life-threatening disease known as Tyrosinemia.

She visited the Royal Children’s Hospital to pick up medication for the boys shortly before the crash on Flemington Rd about 9.50am on Friday.

The family car was incinerated, with police saying there was nothing that could have been done to save the mum and children.

Husband Craig on Monday released a statement thanking the public for its support.

“I’d like to thank the community for their love and support at this difficult time following the loss of my partner Koby and my beautiful children, Chloe and Harrison.

“I have no words to describe how we’re all feeling. This tragedy will take some time to process and we ask for some privacy at this time.”

A nursing colleague, who did not want to be named, told the Herald Sun Chloe was “happy, sweet, caring and smart” and Harrison was a “cheeky” monkey who was “still growing up”.

“My heart has been shattered. You were the funniest, most sarcastic, most caring kindest soul,” they said.

Koby Poole, with her daughter Chloe and son Lachlan.

The nursing colleague said reports Ms Poole was driving erratically prior to the crash did not sound like her, and that she loved her family, was studying and had big plans to rebuild their home.

“Life was great for them,” the colleague said.

She added Ms Poole had fought the hospital for years to get her sons’ medication sent to a chemist closer to her home but they refused.

“(The crash could have been) completely avoided. That’s what we are all struggling with … but Koby would do anything for her kids always,” the colleague said.

Ms Poole was a fierce defender of public health, including the Covid vaccine, and had long campaigned for better health outcomes for her surviving sons, whose condition requires a strict low protein diet to avoid seizures and organ failure.

Less than a week ago the mum took to social media to defend the closure of playgrounds, saying the decision had devastated her four kids but “has to be done” to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Tributes left at the site of a fatal car crash. Picture: Tony Gough

Tragically, Ms Poole lost a fifth child, named Hayley, at birth a decade ago.

Friend Jodie Garnett said it was “beyond devastating” to lose such an “amazing woman, wife, mother, and friend”.

She sent “love and healing” to Ms Poole’s distraught partner, Craig, and her two surviving children “who need the strength to get through such a loss”.

Another friend said: “Koby was the most amazing contrast. She helped me through some of the worst moments in my life with her kindness but also made me laugh regularly with her

perhaps inappropriate humour.”

The crash remains under investigation by Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives.