It all started in 2010 when a then 19-year-old Sam Ballard was dared to swallow a garden slug by his mates.
Who among us can honestly say we haven’t taken part in a dare or two at this age when having a few drinks with our friends.
Sadly, for Sam, it was the beginning of an unimaginable turn.
The slug spread a very rare infection to Sam called rat lungworm.
While typically only rodents are attributed to spreading the worm, it’s possible for slugs to spread it after eating infected rat faeces.
In an even worse turn of events, the majority of people who contract rat lungworm never experience any symptoms, but Sam was in the tiny percent of people who don’t recover due to a severe brain infection.
After being rushed to Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital, Sam slipped into a coma for 420 days, and when he regained consciousness, it was discovered he was a quadriplegic.
It’s been ten years since Sam first swallowed that Slug and his mother, Katie, told the Daily Telegraph that: “It’s devastated, changed his life forever, changed my life forever. It’s huge. The impact is huge.”
The before and after pictures could not possibly hit the sentiment home any harder.
Sam is now 28 and must be fed by a tube and cared for full time by his mother.
Cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) have left Sam and his family in over $40,000 worth of debt.
NDIS have reportedly told the Daily Telegraph they are working with Sam’s family to increase Sams disability insurance payments.
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