Sam Ballard, a 19-year-old rugby player from Sydney, died in November 2018 at age 27, eight years after eating a garden slug on a dare. The slug carried a parasite that caused a severe brain infection, leaving him in a coma for 420 days and permanently paralysed.
Dare at a weekend gathering
In 2010, at an ordinary weekend gathering with friends, the group was drinking when they spotted a garden slug. They dared Sam to swallow it whole, and he did. For several days, everything seemed normal, but soon he began suffering from severe leg pain, dizziness, and vomiting.
His mother, Katie, rushed him to hospital, fearing multiple sclerosis—a condition that had previously affected his father. Doctors swiftly dismissed that possibility, the family said in an interview with All That's Interesting.
Rat lungworm disease and coma
Sam had contracted rat lungworm disease, caused by a parasite commonly found in rodents, which can be passed to slugs and snails when they consume infected rodent droppings. People typically contract the illness by inadvertently consuming infected slugs, snails, or unwashed raw produce carrying the parasite's larvae, which can migrate to the brain and trigger painful inflammation.
When Sam told his mother he had eaten a slug, her initial response was dismissive: "I went, 'No, no one gets sick from that,'" she recalled on the Australian current affairs programme The Project.
In most instances, rat lungworm disease produces mild symptoms that resolve within days or weeks, but in exceptional cases, the parasite can inflict severe neurological harm. For Sam, the infection sparked acute inflammation surrounding his brain and spinal cord, and he descended into a coma that persisted for 420 days.
Life after the coma
When he finally regained consciousness, Sam was paralysed, confined to a wheelchair, and unable to consume food without a feeding tube. He needed constant care, was susceptible to seizures, and couldn't control his own body temperature. He remained in hospital for three years before being discharged in a wheelchair.
Katie characterised her son before the incident as "invincible," cheeky, and "rough-and-tumble," which caused her to subconsciously assume nothing bad could affect him. She also told the media she never held Sam's friends responsible, maintaining they were merely young men "just being mates."
The friends remained at Sam's side throughout treatment and when he returned home. They established a routine of visiting and watching rugby with him, even dribbling drops of beer onto his lips when his mother left the room.
Final warning
Tragically, Sam passed away in November 2018, at age 27. His final words to his mother were simply "I love you." His close friend Jimmy Galvin subsequently spoke out, issuing a stark warning: "Before you jump off a roof into a pool, or if you're daring a mate to eat something stupid, just think about it, because it can have the worst consequence. Just take care of each other."
