Sam Ballard was a rugby player in Sydney in 2010, when he swallowed a slug for a dare. He was only 19 years old and he couldn’t have imagined that a such a little snail could have had such huge consequences.
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As the Daily Mail tells it, Sam fell victim to angiostrongyliasis, an infection caused by a parasite from a rat, after swallowing a slug. This parasite is actually a type of tapeworm that lives in snails or slugs after they have eaten an infected rat’s excrement.
Because of this infection, the rugby player fell into a coma which lasted 420 days and left hospital 3 days after he woke up in a wheel chair. Today, he can’t even feed himself.
In 2016, Sam Ballard’s mother asked for governmental help and later learned that he met the criteria for £500,000 worth of aid. However, over the years the amount has declined to £135,000. Bearing in mind that it is essential to have a nurse around 24 hours a day, that amount is simply not enough to maintain his well-being.
