A simulation has been developed to detail the events that transpired after a teenager accepted a dare to eat a live slug.
You might be familiar with his tragic tale, but before diving into the simulation, let’s revisit what occurred.
In 2010, 19-year-old Sam Ballard from Sydney, Australia, was drinking with friends when a slug appeared, leading to the infamous dare.
Recalling that night, Jimmy Galvin, a friend of Ballard, told The Project: “We were sitting over here having a bit of a red wine appreciation night, trying to act as grown ups and a slug came crawling across here.
“The conversation came up, ‘should I eat it?’ [and] off Sam went. Bang. That’s how it happened.”
At that time, no one realized how dangerous that single garden slug could be for the promising rugby player.
Ballard likely assumed that consuming a seemingly harmless slug would result in, at most, an upset stomach.
Instead, Ballard later found out that the slug was carrying a parasite known as rat lungworm, which caused severe leg pain and weakness.
This led him to contract eosinophilic meningoencephalitis, a severe but treatable form of meningitis, further deteriorating his health.
Ballard fell into a 420-day coma, and the impact of that one small dare irreversibly changed his life.
Upon awakening, he was no longer a teenager and had to face the devastating consequences that had affected his body.
The infection caused by the parasite had spread to Ballard’s brain, resulting in severe paralysis and the inability to eat without assistance.
Now, YouTuber Zack D.Films has created an educational simulation explaining what happened to Ballard’s body as the parasite took hold.
The simulation details how Ballard contracted the parasite from the slug and how, while the human body can often eliminate parasites on its own, the parasite in Ballard’s case spread its larvae to his brain.
This led to the 420-day coma and left him with severe brain damage.
The video aims to educate teenagers on the dangers of risky dares involving slugs or other parasite-carrying animals.
Tragically, Ballard required constant care from his mother and spent his remaining years in a wheelchair until he passed away in November 2018 at the age of 29.
His family has emphasized that his friends should not feel any blame for Ballard’s decision to eat the slug.
At his funeral in 2018, his brother Joshua reassured his friends: “We don’t want you to feel any guilt about what happened that night.”
He added: “Your friendship to Sam was extraordinary.”