Next time a friend dares you to drunkenly do something, perhaps you should consider passing. An Australian man contracted a rare disease that ultimately took his life, after accepting a challenge from his buddies. Sam Ballard spent an evening drinking in 2010, when, at one point his friends got the then 19-year-old to swallow a slug. Soon after Ballard lost the ability to walk and fell into a coma. Turns out the slug was infected with a parasite called rat lungworm, and he came down with a type of meningitis. Unfortunately, the former rugby player didn’t recover and died on Friday.
A promising young rugby player who was left paralysed after eating a slug as a dare at a birthday party has died https://t.co/G9ZGjPL69G
— The Sun (@TheSun) November 5, 2018