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Sam Ballard, seen on a previous photo with his mother, is dead. (News Corp Australia, File)
Sam Ballard has never done anything wrong, if you ask family and friends.
The teenager on the north side of Sydney's north coast was laughing and drinking red wine with friends in the backyard, "trying to act like adults".
It was in 2010 and it was a night that would change his life, and that of all those who surrounded him, forever.
A slug crawled on the concrete patio and, as a teenager, a challenge emerged for Sam to eat him.
One of his best friends, Jimmy Galvin, then described the moment.
"We were sitting here, having an evening of red wine tasting, trying to play the role of an adult and a slug crawling here," he said.
Sam Ballard was a brave rugby player before the devastating effects of infection by a garden slug.
"The conversation has begun, you know. "Should I eat it?" And Sam left. Stroke. That's how it happened.
He did not become ill immediately, but complained of severe leg pain in the days that followed.
He feared that this was a symptom of eating the slug, but his mother told him not to worry: "Nobody gets sick of that," she said.
Sam was worried that he had developed multiple sclerosis, like his father, but that was ruled out.
The doctors later determined that Sam was infected with rat lungworm.
Ballard swallowed the slug on a "challenge".
(REUTERS / Peter Nicholls, File)
The worm that infected Sam is usually found in rodents, but snails and slugs can also be infected when they eat rat feces.
Sam contracted eosinophilic meningoencephalitis, which healed many people. Sam did not do it.
He fell into a coma for 420 days and, upon waking, suffered an acquired brain injury.
Last week, eight years after falling ill, Sam passed away. "The Sunday Project" Lisa Wilkinson announced the news during a dark but brief segment.
"We have sad news for you now. Earlier this year, we told you the story of Sam Ballard who, on a challenge from his classmates, ate a slug. He contracted lung disease in rats with devastating effects, "said Wilkinson.
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"His friends have stayed with him ever since. On Friday, Sam passed away, surrounded by his family and faithful companions in love.
"His last words to his mother:" I love you "."
Katie Ballard, Sam's mother, described the harshness of Sam's life. He could not eat for himself and needed help going to the bathroom.
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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 it was true.
Galvin said that he had apologized to Sam for not having stopped that night in 2010. When he did, the old one big rugby champion "just started bawling his eyes".
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