When Sam Ballard was only 19 years old, he went drinking with his friends out in the garden. After having too many drinks, the drunk young man did something that seems to be innocent but would eventually end up being a grave mistake that no one should ever make.
The Sydney, Australian teen ended up swallowed a garden slug after he was dared by his friends to do so, Sam went to sleep thinking that only a hangover is what he would have to worry about. It wasn’t until days later when he started to feel a mysterious pain in his legs that Sam realized just how much that one silly dare would actually cost him.
When we were kids, we all played games like “Truth or Dare” and would even end up doing some pretty stupid things just because someone goaded us with the infamous words, “I double dare ya!” Most of it was pretty harmless, but sadly that wasn’t the case for poor Sam. Jimmy Galvin, who is one of Sam’s closest friends, told the Australian TV show The Sunday Project:
“We were sitting over here having a bit of a red wine appreciation night, trying to act as grown up and a slug came crawling across here. The conversation came up, you know. ‘Should I eat it?’ And off Sam went. Bang. That’s how it happened.'”
Like many young men his age, Sam felt like he was invincible. The athletic teen was a former rugby player, sprinter, and cyclist. He was healthy up until that fateful day in the garden, when his impulsive decision to scoop up a slug would change his life forever.
At first Sam thought the pain in his leg might be due him developing Multiple Sclerosis, a condition his father suffered from. That was quickly ruled out, but he still had something else to be fearful of. The teen had been infected by a tiny little rat lungworm known as Angiostrongylus cantonensis.
The parasite is mostly found in rodents, but it can also be passed onto snails and slugs who feed on infected rat feces. Unfortunately for Sam, he ate the wrong slug and contracted a rare strand of meningitis called eosinophilic meningoencephalitis as a result. Most people recover from this type of meningitis, but Sam went into a coma for 420 days.
It all spiraled downhill from there, and Sam was left brain damaged from the terrible ordeal. Thankfully he pulled through and woke up from the coma, but he was like a newborn baby and had to learn how to do everything all over again. In the end, Sam became quadriplegic, suffered terrible seizures, and would need help with everyday activities of living, like eating and going to the bathroom, for the rest of his life.
His mother, Katie, didn’t give up hope and believed that her son could understand everything that was said to him. Even his longtime friends were able to see the Sam they once knew and loved when they looked into his eyes! That fact proved true when Sam broke down in tears after his friend Jimmy apologized for not stopping him from eating the slug.
Sam celebrated the rest of his remaining days as someone his friends and family all dared to love. Sadly, he recently passed away at 28 years of age from medical complications. His last words to his mom: “I love you.”
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Sam’s family and friends in this difficult time. Although the willingness to open our hearts and share it with others is a choice we all have to make in life, it’s certainly one dare that we can all agree is worth the risk.
Watch this video to find out more about Sam Ballard’s fateful mistake.
