An Oakdale woman died from striking the back of her head after she fell on a homemade water slide during a family barbecue, the Stanislaus County coroner's office said Friday.
The head injury caused her brain to swell, said Deputy Coroner Misty Leach.
About 75 family members and friends were gathered at Heidi and Jim Brunk's Oakdale home Aug. 9 for an end-of-the summer gathering. Heidi Brunk's accident happened about 8:30 p.m.
Brunk, 45, was declared brain dead at 3:45 p.m. the next day at Doctors Medical Center in Modesto. She was kept on life support until her organs were donated Wednesday.
Leach said the autopsy was performed Friday. The coroner's office has requested a toxicology report, which screens for alcohol, prescription medications and other drugs.
That is standard procedure in traumatic deaths, such as car accidents and falls, Leach said. The report also is requested because a test at the hospital indicated alcohol in Brunk's system, Leach said. She did not know the amount.
The toxicology test results should be back in four to six weeks, Leach said.
Family members have said the slide was about 10 feet wide and 100 feet long and started on a small grass hill behind the patio.
The slide consisted of plastic sheets kept wet with sprinklers on each side. Rolls of hay wrapped in plastic lined the slide's sides. The slide ended in a 10-foot-by-10-foot, 2½-foot-deep plastic-lined pit filled with water.
Jim Brunk did not see his wife's accident. But he has said others at the party told him she got stuck on an inner tube, lost her balance as she stood up and fell backward, hitting her head.
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