Engaging in foolish antics with friends is often seen as a rite of passage, but one teenager’s life drastically changed due to a spontaneous dare.
Among friends, daring each other to try risky actions is common and for many, these experiences become treasured memories despite the risk involved.
Unfortunately, for Australian Sam Ballard, things took a heartbreaking turn.
In 2010, at the age of 19, Sam ate a slug on a dare from his friends.
Recalling the incident, Sam’s friend Jimmy shared with 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, ‘Should I eat it?’ [and] off Sam went.”
While experiencing some discomfort or a lesson learned would have been the expected outcome, Sam faced a dire situation.
Soon after consuming the slug, his central nervous system began to collapse.
The slug carried a parasite called rat lungworm, causing Sam to contract eosinophilic meningoencephalitis, a severe but treatable form of meningitis.
Sam suffered a brain infection and was in a coma for 420 days.
Upon waking, he was left with extreme mobility challenges, paralyzed from the neck down.
He retained control only over his breathing and eyelids, and his mother, Katie Ballard, became his primary caregiver.
The Project’s Lisa Wilkinson noted that Sam was ‘surrounded by his family and loyal, loving mates’ before he died at 29 in November 2018.
His touching last words to his mother were ‘I love you’.
Jimmy now warns against engaging in unnecessary reckless behavior, even among friends.
He stated: “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’s family has emphasized that they don’t hold his friends responsible, telling the NZ Herald that the boys were ‘just being mates’.
At Sam’s funeral, his brother addressed friends in mourning. He expressed: “We don’t want you to feel any guilt about what happened that night.
“Your friendship to Sam was extraordinary.”