Post: #1

The slug happened to have rat lungworm. It paralyzed him and he eventually died.

Quote:SAM Ballard never did anything wrong, if you ask family and friends.

The teenager from Sydney’s upper north shore was having a laugh and some red wine with mates in the backyard, “trying to act like grown ups”.

It was 2010 and it was a night that would change the 19-year-old’s life, and the lives of everybody around him, forever.

A slug crawled across the concrete patio and, teens being teens, a dare emerged for Sam to eat it.

One of his best friends, Jimmy Galvin, later described the moment.

“We were sitting over here having a bit of a red wine appreciation night, trying to act as grown up and a slug came crawling across here,” he said.

“The conversation came up, you know. ‘Should I eat it?’ And off Sam went. Bang. That’s how it happened.”

He didn’t become sick immediately, but complained of serious pain in his legs in the days after.

He was worried it might’ve been a symptom of eating the slug, but his mother told him not to worry: “No-one gets sick from that,” she said.

Sam was worried he might have developed Multiple sclerosis, like his father, but that was ruled out.

Doctors later determined Sam was infected with rat lungworm.

The worm that infected Sam is usually found in rodents, but snails and slugs can also become infected when they eat rat faeces.

Sam contracted eosinophilic meningo-encephalitis, which many people recover from. Sam didn’t.

He fell into a coma for 420 days and when he woke had an acquired brain injury.

Last week, eight years after he fell ill, Sam died. The Sunday Project’s Lisa Wilkinson broke the news during a sombre but brief segment.

“We have some sad news for you now. Earlier this year we brought you the story of Sam Ballard who, on a dare from his mates, ate a slug. He contracted rat lung disease with devastating effects,” Wilkinson said.

“His friends have stuck by him ever since. On Friday, Sam passed away, surrounded by his family and loyal, loving mates.

“His last words to his mum: ‘I love you’.”

Katie Ballard, Sam’s mother, described how hard life had been for Sam. He couldn’t eat for himself and needed help going to the bathroom.

While he was initially unable to move his limbs, the former Barker College student worked hard to regain some movement.

Katie had said “he understands” everything, and his mates know that was true.

Mr Galvin said he apologised to Sam for not stopping him that night in 2010. When he did, the former rugby standout “just started bawling his eyes out”.

“So you know he’s there,” Mr Galvin said.

His close friends often visited him, even if it was a “shock” to see their mate struggling.

“When I walked in, he was very, very gaunt … and there were cables everywhere,” friend Michael Sheasby said. “It was a big shock.”

They’d watch footy like they used to and share a beer, even if that meant just a sip for Sam when Katie left the room.

His eyes would always light up when they came around.

“It made his day,” his mates said.

In 2011, Katie shared a post on Facebook, maintaining hope that her “rough-and-tumble Sam” would recover.

“Physios had Sam standing in the frame at the gym,” she wrote. “He spent the afternoon laughing at me as I read him the sports section of the newspaper with new glasses on.

“Told him it was the stress of the last 16 months that had affected my eyesight.”

Later, she wrote that “he is still the same cheeky Sam, and laughs a lot” but admitted “it’s devastated, changed his life forever, changed my life forever. It’s huge. The impact is huge.”

Katie spent years fighting for adequate care for Sam after 2010. An initial allocation of care as part of the government’s National Disability Insurance Scheme saw the family receive $471,000.

But in October, 2017, that was reviewed and slashed by more than half. Media coverage and the family’s fight for additional funding and care saw the decision reversed.

What an unfortunate way to die. So random.

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health...d92dfeaa8f

Post: #2

Common sense, inner intuition to avoid dangerous actions & situations, and overall intelligence is dropping worldwide at a scary rate....especially among white people who used to be a lot smarter than they are now.

Remember the TV show on MTV called jackass back in the early 2000s ?

This is the sort of present day society TV shows like that helped produce.

Post: #3

(12-17-2018 06:40 PM)Caduceus Wrote:  Common sense, inner intuition to avoid dangerous actions & situations, and overall intelligence is dropping worldwide at a scary rate....especially among white people who used to be a lot smarter than they are now.

Remember the TV show on MTV called jackass back in the early 2000s ?

This is the sort of present day society TV shows like that helped produce.

This seems more like extremely bad luck. It wasn't like he was eating a funnel web slug or black mamba slug and should have known better.

He just ate a slug.

That seems like a pretty mild dare, all things considered.

Post: #4

Common sense goes out the window after drinking.
I'm surprised I hadn't gotten any illness or major injuries from doing stupid shit while drunk in my teens/early 20's.

Post: #5

This is tragic....

In my younger years I would eat moths at parties. We would all be standing around outside smoking and drinking an there would always be moths on the wall near a light and I would grab one and eat it just for a reaction. I have since removed moths from my diet..... back in the day I really thought nothing of it

I think casting judgment on this kid for eating a slug on a buzzed dare from his mates is ridiculous. Show me a male who has never done ANYTHING questionable in his youth and I'll show you a liar.

RIP Slugger..... (too soon?)

Post: #6

Urban people think that everything is safe to eat, when in fact most things are poisonous to us, and there are only a relatively few plants and animals we can eat. Where I live, there was a gringo who found what he thought was some yummie lettuce in his garden and ended up seriously ill in intensive care for three weeks. He ate a poisonous plant that every Mexican kid and chihuahua has the sense to avoid.

Post: #7

The tell tail signs are in the article:

First, terrible way to go. Makes me more hesitant eating escargot.

Quote:He fell into a coma for 420 days and when he woke had an acquired brain injury.

The fact he was in a coma for that long means to me that the doctors didn't even bother to a spinal tap or any tests to figure out what the hell was going on. You'd think, "Hmm, patient has fallen into a coma when typically such an infection isn't so bad. Let's just leave him here and hope for the best derp derp derp."

Had the doctors checked his cranial pressure, they would have been aware of the massive build up of pressure and be able to bleed off the pressure reducing some of the damage.

The fact that the government had the audacity to cut his support payments in half means one thing to me:
Socialized healthcare kills.

Post: #8

One time I was on a middle school class trip and there were these kinds of underground honey bee that does not have a stinger. We tracked down the hive and we all dug it up and ate some honey. Then I started to eat a few bees as well as a gag. They were crunchy.

Post: #9

Damn that before and after picture is sad. I certainly did my fair share of stupid things on a dare as a kid. Really, all things considered, I wouldn't even think of this as some over the top dare or doing something stupid, it seems rather tame.

What is really great about this story is how his friends still remembered to visit him after he became ill. You know that meant the world to him, to have his friends come over and visit him still after his life was all but destroyed.

Damn, what a sad story.

Post: #10

Slugs are better paired with White Wine, not Red.

Post: #11

RIP to the guy, but I’m not surprised someone finally kicked the bucket after one of these dares.

A lot dumber things used to happen and probably still do amongst GPS or quasi-GPS school mates, whether while at school or after they go past 18.

Eating a slug, irrespective of the massive consequences it had for Sam, is like a 2 or 3/10 for elite private schoolboy larking. A lot of others have done things far dumber and lived to tell the tale.

Anyone who went to USyd, UniMelb or Monash University knows exactly what I am talking about. Residential colleges at sandstone Australian universities are replete with examples a lot worse than slugs, usually courtesy of the ex-elite private schoolboys.

There has always been an undercurrent of stupidity in dares and even hazing from a subsection of Kings, Joey’s, Ignatius, Knox and Barker etc boys in Sydney, or Wesley and Scotch etc boys in Melbourne.

No one deserves what happened here, yet I did not bat an eyelid when I heard either about the death or the previous stories talking about how even his well-to-do mother was struggling to support this poor guy throughout his disability.

We had stupid informal hazing at my school and I know my dad’s had it, too. I’m against gun control like that pushed for in the US by leftists, but some of the hazed or bullied kids would have come to school with semi-automatics if Australia had more liberal firearms legislation.

I know of but did not witness a case where, for shits and giggles, a group of guys dared each other to all piss on a kid they did not like.

A slug-eating feat is obviously far from that malicious; I’m just pointing out there’s a spectrum of rather stupid behavior going on here.

Post: #12

That's very tragic. But there is a clear moral e here. Don't give in to peer pressure and don't do stupid and gross things just for recognition of peers.

Post: #13

(12-17-2018 08:08 PM)Mage Wrote:  That's very tragic. But there is a clear moral e here. Don't give in to peer pressure and don't do stupid and gross things just for recognition of peers.

Only very strong willed/independent minded people are capable of this at a young age.

Post: #14

(12-17-2018 07:23 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  The tell tail signs are in the article:

First, terrible way to go. Makes me more hesitant eating escargot.

As long as it's cooked, doesn't that kill the bacteria? The kid in the article seems to have picked it up off the ground and put in his mouth.

Post: #15

(12-17-2018 08:14 PM)CincinnatiKid Wrote:  

(12-17-2018 07:23 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  The tell tail signs are in the article:

First, terrible way to go. Makes me more hesitant eating escargot.

As long as it's cooked, doesn't that kill the bacteria? The kid in the article seems to have picked it up off the ground and put in his mouth.

Yes, you're right. General cooking would destroy the parasite. Moreoever rat lungworm infections in humans are very, very rare.

Probably so rare that there's no meds to target to the parasite(most of the website I read about it on said that people with lungworm just "ride it out" aka there's not enough money in developing and mass producing an anthelmintic to convince Big Pharma to shell out the cash for R&D).

Post: #16

(12-17-2018 08:14 PM)CincinnatiKid Wrote:  

(12-17-2018 07:23 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  The tell tail signs are in the article:

First, terrible way to go. Makes me more hesitant eating escargot.

As long as it's cooked, doesn't that kill the bacteria? The kid in the article seems to have picked it up off the ground and put in his mouth.

Cooking is all fine and dandy until it's under cooked. That's what I'm most concerned about. Knowing what goes on in professional kitchens, i'd rather deal with a bad case of food poisoning than this terrifying illness.

(12-17-2018 08:55 PM)Goldin Boy Wrote:  Moreoever rat lungworm infections in humans are very, very rare.

Probably so rare that there's no meds to target to the parasite(most of the website I read about it on said that people with lungworm just "ride it out" aka there's not enough money in developing and mass producing an anthelmintic to convince Big Pharma to shell out the cash for R&D).

Not as rare as you'd think! Apparently Kona's people have been attacked by this savage parasite.
http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/08/30...diagnosis/

Post: #17

I think the mother is a retard for dismissing his concerns over legpain after eating a slug.

What kind of mother is not a hypochondriac on behalf of their children?

My other saved my life when I was a teen, when doctors thought it was just some "flu". I would have been dead in hours had she not insisted all the way.

This mother just casually dismissed it.

I've heard about multiple episodes like this in recent years. Parents disregarding their children in great distress, because some doctor says so. Then they die a few hours later.

NPC parents.

Better safe than sorry. Doctors are frequently wrong.

Post: #18

(12-17-2018 07:24 PM)Robert High Hawk Wrote:  One time I was on a middle school class trip and there were these kinds of underground honey bee that does not have a stinger. We tracked down the hive and we all dug it up and ate some honey. Then I started to eat a few bees as well as a gag. They were crunchy.

Post: #19

(12-17-2018 09:20 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  

(12-17-2018 08:14 PM)CincinnatiKid Wrote:  

(12-17-2018 07:23 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  The tell tail signs are in the article:

First, terrible way to go. Makes me more hesitant eating escargot.

As long as it's cooked, doesn't that kill the bacteria? The kid in the article seems to have picked it up off the ground and put in his mouth.

Cooking is all fine and dandy until it's under cooked. That's what I'm most concerned about. Knowing what goes on in professional kitchens, i'd rather deal with a bad case of food poisoning than this terrifying illness.

(12-17-2018 08:55 PM)Goldin Boy Wrote:  Moreoever rat lungworm infections in humans are very, very rare.

Probably so rare that there's no meds to target to the parasite(most of the website I read about it on said that people with lungworm just "ride it out" aka there's not enough money in developing and mass producing an anthelmintic to convince Big Pharma to shell out the cash for R&D).

Not as rare as you'd think! Apparently Kona's people have been attacked by this savage parasite.
http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/08/30...diagnosis/

So which is more dangerous, eating a slug off the ground, or eating in a restaurant?

And are we talking about cooking the slug because upper class dares are supposed to be classy?

Do rich kids carry around proper slug forks for situations just like this?

Didn't realize this would get so complicated.

Post: #20

I ate a cricket in my mid 20s once.

Post: #21

(12-18-2018 11:00 AM)debeguiled Wrote:  

(12-17-2018 09:20 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  

(12-17-2018 08:14 PM)CincinnatiKid Wrote:  

(12-17-2018 07:23 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  The tell tail signs are in the article:

First, terrible way to go. Makes me more hesitant eating escargot.

As long as it's cooked, doesn't that kill the bacteria? The kid in the article seems to have picked it up off the ground and put in his mouth.

Cooking is all fine and dandy until it's under cooked. That's what I'm most concerned about. Knowing what goes on in professional kitchens, i'd rather deal with a bad case of food poisoning than this terrifying illness.

(12-17-2018 08:55 PM)Goldin Boy Wrote:  Moreoever rat lungworm infections in humans are very, very rare.

Probably so rare that there's no meds to target to the parasite(most of the website I read about it on said that people with lungworm just "ride it out" aka there's not enough money in developing and mass producing an anthelmintic to convince Big Pharma to shell out the cash for R&D).

Not as rare as you'd think! Apparently Kona's people have been attacked by this savage parasite.
http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/08/30...diagnosis/

So which is more dangerous, eating a slug off the ground, or eating in a restaurant?

And are we talking about cooking the slug because upper class dares are supposed to be classy?

Do rich kids carry around proper slug forks for situations just like this?

Didn't realize this would get so complicated.

Noether, you only eat land snails not slugs in fancy French restaurants.

Post: #22

(12-18-2018 11:20 AM)renotime Wrote:  I ate a cricket in my mid 20s once.

Nobody who has ever been to southeast Asia is impressed.they are delicious.

Post: #23

^ a Snail or slug is like 100 times more gross then a cricket. Maybe it's just me trough.

Post: #24

(12-18-2018 11:52 AM)Horus Wrote:  

(12-18-2018 11:20 AM)renotime Wrote:  I ate a cricket in my mid 20s once.

Nobody who has ever been to southeast Asia is impressed.they are delicious.

Yeah, but I had to catch him first.

Post: #25

Don't eat raw stuff from the ground.
Life lessons.