A woman has tragically passed away after suffering water toxicity from drinking too much water during a hot day.
Ashley Summers, a 35-year-old mum of two, was away with her family on holiday at Lake Freeman near Monticello, Indiana.She was staying at the getaway spot last month with her husband and two daughters from Saturday through Tuesday during the Fourth of July weekend.
On the last day of their trip, it was particularly hot, with temperatures reaching up to 32C.
Feeling a bit dehydrated, Ashley gulped down four bottles of water, nearly two litres, in a short period of time, about 20 minutes. Following this, she started feeling lightheaded and had a headache. Then, once home, she passed out in her garage.
Although her family rushed her to IU Health Arnett Hospital in Lafayette, Indiana, sadly, she never regained consciousness.
Devon Miller, Ashley’s brother told WRTV: “She loved being on the water. She loved being on the lake. [Then] my sister, Holly, called me, and she was just an absolute wreck.
“She was like ‘Ashley is in the hospital. She has brain swelling, they don’t know what’s causing it, they don’t know what they can do to get it to go down, and it’s not looking good.
“Someone said she drank four bottles of water in 20 minutes. I mean, an average water bottle is like 16 ounces, so that was 64 ounces that she drank in a span of 20 minutes. That’s half a gallon.
“That’s what you’re supposed to drink in a whole day.” Devastated, the grieving brother continued: “It was a shock to all of us. When they first started talking about water toxicity. It was like this is a thing?”