An Australian man passed away eight years after he contracted a rare illness caused by eating a slug. Back in 2010, Sam Ballard was having some wine with a group of friends in his backyard when they noticed a slug crawling across the patio.
His friends dared him to eat the slug, and Sam didn't hesitate. He felt fine afterward, but a few days later he knew something was wrong when he started having severe pain in his legs. He went to the hospital where doctors discovered he had been infected with rat lungworm, a parasite that is usually found in rodents but can show up in slugs that eat rat feces.
The lungworm moved to Ballard's brain, causing him to develop Eosinophilic meningitis. He fell into a coma for nearly a year-and-a-half and was paralyzed when he finally woke up. He suffered from seizures and required constant care, needing help to eat, wash, and go to the bathroom. It became so much work that his mother had to quit her job so she could take care of him.
After eight years of battling the rare disease, Ballard passed away surrounded by his family and friends.
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