At 19 years-old, Sam Ballard he had, in a way, the world at his feet: young, charismatic and talented, he stood as a promising rugby player. Until a meeting with his friends changed his course and paralyzed, in the most unexpected way, his destiny.
What at first would be a fun and entertaining weekend with friends, ended up becoming for Ballard the beginning of a painful process that would only end eight years later, with his death.
According to Jimmy Galvin, a friend of the young man, they were hanging out at his home in Sydney, Australia, in 2010. It was all laughter, entertainment and wine until, suddenly, a slug came crawling across the concrete patio and posed before the prying eyes of the guests.
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Spurred on by teenage swagger or, perhaps, peer pressure, Ballard made the decision that changed his life that day: he grabbed the slug, put it in his mouth and, without stopping to think regarding the consequences, swallowed it.
(Also read: The strange story of the man who turned blue from an incurable disease).
“We were sitting here, enjoying our red wine appreciation night for a bit, trying to act like adults. And then the conversation came up: ‘Should I eat it?’ And then Sam went and bang, that’s how it happened,” Galvin recounted in dialogue with Lisa Wilkinson of ‘The Sunday Project’.
Although having eaten did not bring consequences to his health immediately, it did followingward. The young Australian began to experience weakness and, later, severe pain in his legs that led him to suspect that he had multiple sclerosis, just like his father.
When she finally made up her mind to tell her mother what had really happened to her, she brushed off the warning in just five words. “Nobody gets sick from it,” the woman said at the time of her.
(Keep reading: He went blind following taking a nap: ‘Parasites ate my eye.’)
The lack of explanations led Ballard to be rushed to Royal North Shore Hospital, located in Sydney. There he remained in a coma for 420 days, following contracting eosinophilic meningoencephalitis, a branch of meningitis. When he woke up, he discovered that he had become a quadriplegic.
It turned out that Ballard’s symptoms were not compatible with multiple sclerosis, much less with temporary or less serious conditions. The young man had developed rat lungworm disease following consuming the infected slug, according to ‘CNN’.
Angiostrongyliasis, also known as rat lungworm disease, is a parasite that lives primarily in rats. However, it can also infect snails and slugs when they come into contact with the feces of infected rodents.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explain that, although it only happens in unusual situations, people can become infected by eating raw slugs or snails that, in turn, have this parasite.
He is devastated, it changed his life forever, it changed my life forever. The impact is huge
Although it rarely happens, there is a possibility that the rat lungworm causes an infection of the brain called eosinophilic meningoencephalitis. This was precisely the case with Sam Ballard.
(Of interest: The rare woman who applied a chemical to her eyes to ‘get sleepy’ from being blind).
“People with this condition may have headaches, a stiff neck, tingling or sore skin, fever, nausea, and vomiting. The time between eating the slug or snail and getting sick is usually 1 to 3 weeks,” he details. NSW Health.
The diagnosis Ballard received changed his life forever. He went from having an active social life and playing sports to being unable to eat without a tube or move on his own. Suddenly, he needed 24/7 care.
His mother, along with the rest of the relatives and relatives, was in charge of the Ballard process. “He is devastated, it changed his life forever, it changed my life forever. The impact is enormous,” said the woman, according to the British newspaper ‘Metro’.
The young man spent three years in the hospital, before being released. Although the disease did not affect his mental faculties, it did have a considerable impact on his physical appearance and quality of life, so much so that he had to leave the medical institution in a motorized wheelchair.
Eight years following the incident, Sam Ballard died of complications. in your health. His online obituary describes him as “a true fighter and hero to his younger brother Joshua and sister Melanie.”
Despite the difficult times he went through, he was never alone. He had the support of both his family and his friends, who encouraged, supported and cared for him. “His last days were the happiest and he was surrounded by a room full of love.” finished his obituary.
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