- In 2010, Sam Ballard ate a garden slug on a dare from his friends during a birthday party.
- Ballard didn’t know the slug was infected with rat lungworm, which is a parasite that can live in rats, slugs, and snails. The parasite can cause eosinophilic meningitis.
- Ballard contracted meningitis after eating the slug and was left paralyzed. He died at the age of 28 in Sydney.
When Sam Ballard’s friends dared him to eat a slug that was crawling across the patio in 2010, the 19-year-old accepted the challenge without a second thought.
In a news report on Ballard, one of his friends explained they were “having a wine appreciation night” when he took on the dare.
Within days of eating the slug, Ballard noticed pain in his legs.
Doctors determined that the Australian man had contracted eosinophilic meningitis from the slug that was infected with the rat lungworm parasite, according to Sky News.
The rat lungworm, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, is a parasite that typically lives in rats, slugs, and snails. Eating a raw snail can cause an infection that leads to eosinophilic meningitis, which is a rare disease that affects the membranes of the brain and spinal cord.
The brain infection left Ballard in a coma for 420 days and made him paralyzed from the waist down.
The former rugby player endured years of rehabilitation and therapy but was never able to regain complete movement or walk again.
A columnist for Ten Daily reported that the 28-year-old died from complications of the injury on Friday. "Sam passed away on Friday morning at Hornsby Hospital, not far from where he grew up, surrounded by 20 of those he most loved in the world," she wrote. His mother Katie, who cared for him full-time, was by his side, and Sam was able to express his gratitude to her.
"He had his voice and he said 'I love you' several times to Katie."
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