Sam Ballard was partying with friends as a teenager when a sick dare went horrifyingly wrong.
In 2010, the Australian teen was dared to eat a slug at a friends party – a decision that would that would have life-altering consequences and would ultimately result in his death at the age of just 28, reports the Mirror.
After ingesting the creature, the 19-year-old quickly became unwell, developing eosinophilic meningoencephalitis, a potentially grave parasitic infection of the central nervous system (CNS).
The keen rugby player, who lived in Sydney, spent 420 days in a coma after he was rushed to hospital. When he woke from the coma, he learned that he was a quadriplegic – a condition of paralysis that affects a person’s body from the neck down, including all four limbs.
Years later, a friend who had attended the party, recalled Sam’s tragic four words before eating the slug, and issued an urgent warning to others.
His friend Jimmy Galvin told The Project : “We were sitting, having a bit of a red wine appreciation night, trying to act as grown-ups, and a slug came crawling across. The conversation came up, ‘Should I eat it?’ Off Sam went. Bang. That’s how it happened.”
Offering a warning to others, Jimmy continued: “Just take care of your mates. Before you jump off a roof into pool or dare your mate to eat something stupid. It can have the worst consequences – not only on your mate and the rest of your friends, the rest of your life, just take care of each other.”
Sam was quickly rushed to hospital, where doctors informed him he had been infected with rat lungworm. While the disease is often found in rodents, snails and slugs can also become infected as they often eat the rats’ faeces.
The excrement contains a rare parasite known as Angiostrongylus cantonensis which, as happened in Sam’s case, can cause an infection on the brain.
Jimmy revealed he apologised to his friend for not stopping him from carrying out the dare, at which point Sam “started bawling his eyes out”.
Recalling the first time he saw Sam in his hospital room, Michael Sheasby, another friend, remembered: “When I walked in, he was very, very gaunt, and there were cables everywhere – it was a big shock.”
Sam’s mother, Kate, remained hopeful that he would one day walk and talk again. However, the years that followed took a huge toll on the family. Kate said: “It’s devastated, changed his life forever, changed my life forever. It’s huge. The impact is huge.”
Speaking with the Daily Telegraph in Australia, Kate explained how Sam was unable to eat for himself and required help using the bathroom. She went on to confirm that she didn’t blame the boys for their dare, or Sam for accepting the challenge, emphasising the group were just “being mates” on the night of the party.
Three years after he fell ill, Sam was released from hospital and returned home in a motorised wheelchair. Friends rallied around to raise money for the 24/7 care Sam needed, yet, the family still ended up in debt.
In April 2018, it was reported that Sam was fighting the government after his disability allowance was cut. When Sam became eligible for thousands of pounds in disability allowance in 2016, Kate applied to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
However, in September 2017, Kate was advised that a review of his plan had cut his allowance of $492,000 to just $135,000, meaning they owed nurses $42,000. At the time, the NDIS told the Daily Telegraph it was “working closely” with the family to find a resolution.
Tragically, in December 2018, Sam passed away at the age of just 28. Lisa Wilkinson, one of the hosts of The Project, shared that Sam had been “surrounded by his family and loyal, loving mates” in his final hours and that his last words to his mum were “I love you”.
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