Family Remembers Mom of 2 Who Died After Drinking Too Much Water: ‘She Was a Good Gal’ (Exclusive)

The family of Ashley Summers is paying tribute to the mother of two after she died of apparent water intoxication after a trip to a local Indiana lake.

The 35-year-old died after spending four days celebrating the long Independence Day weekend with her husband, Cody Summers, and their two young daughters, Brooklyn and Brynlee, at Lake Freeman.

"It's been a real shocker for all of us," Ashley's uncle, Deon Miller, told The Messenger.

Deon says the family believes Ashley became "severely dehydrated" during the trip, which compelled her to drink a lot of water quickly.

"It was really hot, and they were out on the water," he says. "Then, on July 4, she had a headache and felt really thirsty. She thought she must have been dehydrated, so she drank like four bottled waters in half an hour."

When the family returned home, Deon said Ashley fell backward while walking through their backdoor.

"Cody gave her CPR and got her going a little bit, but by the time they got to the hospital and ran tests and everything, they had to put her on the ventilator," Deon recalls. "By that time, her brain had swelled enough that it shut all circulation off to her brain, and she was brain dead."

"Then, that night, she was gone," he says of Ashley, who died at the hospital on July 6. "It's been a real shock for the kids and everyone."

Ashley's brother, Devon Miller, told news station WRTV that doctors informed the family that she died of water toxicity.

Water intoxication can lead to insufficient salt in the blood, causing a condition known as hyponatremia.

According to Scientific American, the kidneys play a vital role in regulating the body's water and salt balance by filtering blood and controlling the amount of water and solutes leaving the body.

When someone consumes too much water in a short period, the kidneys can struggle to remove it quickly, leading to a "waterlogged" bloodstream.

Excess water then enters the cells, causing them to swell, which can be particularly troublesome for brain cells, according to the publication.

Unlike most cells in the body, brain cells are contained within a rigid skull, and have almost no room to expand.

As a result, brain edema or swelling can be dangerous, and hyponatremia can cause symptoms such as headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, frequent urination and mental disorientation.

"We're not doing very well," Deon Miller tells The Messenger about how the family has coped over the weeks since Ashley's death.

When thinking about his niece, Deon says he'll never forget her simply being a "good gal."

"She loved kids, and her kids were on her hip all the time," he says through tears. "She always carried babies around when she was younger. She was a good girl."

In a Facebook post on July 8, friend Carissa Kay DeWitt said that Ashley's family had decided to donate her organs.

"She will be gifting SO many people & giving them a second chance at life," DeWitt wrote

While rare, there have been other cases of water intoxication over the years.

In 2007, California mother Jennifer Strange died at 28 after participating in a radio station's "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest.

The challenge asked contestants to compete to determine who could drink the most water without using the restroom, with a Nintendo Wii video game console offered as the prize, per CBS News.

Strange died hours after the competition.