Did you all see this on the news?
How sad, her poor family.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Authorities in Sacramento County, Calif., are looking into the death of a woman who had competed in a radio station contest last week.

A medical examiner said the woman died of water intoxication.


Water intoxication is a condition that causes the organs -- especially the brain -- to swell.

Jennifer Strange, 28, had taken part in a contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom.

Strange was found dead Friday in her suburban Rancho Cordova home hours after taking part in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii"contest held by Sacramento radio station KDND FM.

Strange placed second in the contest.

"I feel horrible, you know, because you don't think water's going to kill you. You're having fun at the radio station trying to win a little contest. You don't think it's going to turn deadly," said Lucy Davidson, the contest's winner.

The station had promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner.

The station's owner said staff members were stunned when they learned of the death.

It's not yet known how much water Strange consumed.

The radio station's Web site did not have any indication of the story Monday morning.

Two people who competed in a radio station's water drinking contest with a 28-year-old mother of three who later died said they were never warned they were putting their health at risk, a newspaper reported Monday.

Gina Sherrod said that family members listening in on KDND-FM's "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest told her that a nurse called into the program to warn that drinking too much water was dangerous, but that she did not worry until she learned of Jennifer Lea Strange's death.

"I was so scared," Sherrod told The Sacramento Bee on Sunday. "I had the hardest time going to sleep last night because I was afraid I wouldn't get up."

Strange was one of about 18 participants who tried to win a Nintendo Wii gaming console early Friday by seeing how much water they could drink without going to the bathroom. She was found dead several hours later, and the Sacramento County coroner said she died of water intoxication.

During the contest, participants were given two minutes to drink an 8-ounce bottle of water and then given another bottle to drink after a 10-minute break.

Fellow contestant James Ybarra said he quit drinking after imbibing eight bottles, but Stange, who placed second, and others kept going even after they were handed even larger containers.

Strange showed other participants photographs of her two sons and daughter, for whom she was hoping to win the Nintendo Wii, Ybarra said.

"It is sad that a mother had to lose her life to get something for her kids," he told The Bee. "None of us knew this could be a risk to our health."

Contestants qualified for the event by recounting the worst Christmas gifts they'd received. Strange said her worst gift was a set of champagne flutes wrapped like roses that shattered when she opened them, according to Sherrod.

Strange also mentioned that she and friends had sixth-row tickets to a Justin Timberlake concert that night.

Sherrod said she managed to drink half of a larger bottle before she became nauseated and had to leave.

"I felt drunk and really out of it," she said.

Strange's mother found her daughter's body at home Friday in the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova after Strange called her supervisor at her job to say she was heading home in terrible pain.

Strange's husband, William Strange, 27, issued a written statement late Sunday in which he described his wife's giving nature.

"Friday, Jennifer was just her bright, usual self," he wrote. "She was trying to win something for her family that she thought we would enjoy. ... We miss her dearly. She was my girl."

John Geary, general manager of the company that owns KDND, told the newspaper in an e-mail that the station's staff was stunned by news of Strange's death.

"We are awaiting information that will help explain how this tragic event occurred. Our sympathies are with the family and friends of Jennifer Strange, as they deal with circumstances that are so difficult to comprehend."

In a similar tragedy, a Chico University fraternity pledge died of water poisoning in 2005.

Matthew Carrington, 21, of Pleasant Hill had a heart attack and died during a fraternity hazing, authorities said.

Four men pleaded guilty to contributing to Carrington's death by forcing him to drink so much water in a fraternity basement in such a short period of time that his heart stopped.

A college student in New York died from forced consumption of water in 2003, according to records.

He was forced to drink so many pitchers of water through a funnel that the sodium in his body dropped to lethal levels and his brain swelled. He died of hyponatremia, according to an autopsy.
Copyright 2007 by NBC4.tv. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/10761800/detail.html

I am amazed that this contest was allowed to go on...seems like someone, somewhere, would have let the radio station know that it was risky. Wouldn't be surprised at all to see a big fat lawsuit over it. Very sad situation that should never have taken place.

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Panda

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I read that the other day..I was shocked, from my understanding water intoxication is rare. I'm sure there will be a lawsuit too...Makes you wonder how much water you have to drink for water intoxication to occur? When I was trying to pass a kidney stone my sister was warning me not to drink too much water because it can kill you.. It took me almost 2 weeks pass that stone!

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Angels may not come when you call them, but they'll always be there when you need them.

I seen this also so scary!! Man those poor kids she left behind too cant be very old ya know

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mom of 3 greats girls

its not that rare. when I worked at the state mental hospital with substance abusers, alot of them who could not get alcohol would drink large amounts of water and become drunk off of it. we had to monitor the water intake . seems alot of people who abuse alcohol can overdose on water. Causes swelling of the brain.

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Very interesting...

I knew that if you drink too much water, you can lose all of your electrolytes through your urine and dehydrate yourself but had never heard of this.

I feel for her family. Sad...

OMG! I didn't realize it caused a drunkess effect.. Wow shocking!! I knew about people drinking cold medicine to get a buzz but never imagine someone using water to get drunk off.

__________________
Angels may not come when you call them, but they'll always be there when you need them.

Water drinking contests SOUND harmless enough, but they're not I used to have drinking contests when I was a kid and I always won but the other kids didn't have Diabetes Insipidus and I do. I've experienced what was probably water intoxication before, when I would take the replacement hormone at night and in the morning I had forgotten I'd taken it and continued to drink as normal and then I'd feel horrible - my hands and arms would feel swollen and stiff though they didn't LOOK swollen, I'd have a headache and just generally feel like CRAP. Usually when I felt the worst it was just about over, and we'd often be on our way out to eat somewhere and I'd salt my food pretty well. I was told during my last pregnancy that I'm a bit low on potassium, but we figured that has to do with the amount I drink so she didn't prescribe me any potassium pills. I considered going to the ER during these episodes but I have no idea what they would do to treat it, and last time I went to the ER I had a horrible experience, was there because I was rather sick and the dr kept accusing me of lying about my Diabetes Insipidus! Had nothing to do with the viral infection I had

I feel so bad for that family! I saw on the news this morning that the radio show people have been fired.

This is such a sad story.

I read that baby's do NOT need any water until, I believe, one year of age because too much water can cause this to happen to them. That they get enough in formula/breast milk. I thought it was strange, but now I see why.

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Amy
Mom to Lauren, Eryn, Naysa
and announcing......
Gavin Michael Chase, 9 lbs 10 ozs
and 21 3/4 inches long on 10/13/09!

I also knew through the pediatrician over the past 10 years of having kids that babies can die of water intoxication, that's why you don't give them water separate from mixed formula. I've had this battle with my mom who insists that I should give my newborn water in between bottles, which of course I don't do due to the risk of water intoxication. I knew that adults could get it too. I believe what happens is that your organs swell if the water isn't flushed out and this can kill you.

A nurse practitioner actually called the radio station while this contest was going on and warned them about the water intoxication risk. It's all recorded, when I heard them replay what was said I couldn't believe the djs were so stupid, making jokes about dying and so on. I heard the entire thing on CNN or Fox News today (can't remember which one I was watching at the time). Of course if they were going to hold a contest like this, why in the world would their attorneys (for the station--I assume they have one?!) let them do this?! The dj on the air made the comment to the nurse practitioner when she called in that "the contestants couldn't hold the radio station or the djs accountable if they had problems/died due to water intoxication since they had all signed release waivers" (not word for word but very close), so that proves that the station was aware of water intoxication/knew what it was anyway. Guess though that you honestly have to hold the contestants somewhat accountable too for participating, especially if the actually signed the waiver that alerted them to that. Of course the waiver won't hold up in a court of law I'm sure, and the station will rightfully be sued. All of this for a $300 video game good grief.