Horrifying simulation shows what happened to teenager after he was dared to eat live slug by his friends
Joe Yates
Featured Image Credit: Family Handout/zackdfilms / YouTube
A simulation has been made to show exactly what happened to the body of a teenager who went through with a dare to eat a live slug.
You've probably heard about his horrifying story at some point in your life, but before we get into the simulation, I'll run you through what happened.
Back in 2010, a then 19-year-old Sam Ballard, from Sydney, Australia, was drinking with his friends when the slimy creature began moving in front of them - at which point the dare came about.
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Recalling the tragic night, Ballard's friend Jimmy Galvin told The Project: "We were sitting over here having a bit of a red wine appreciation night, trying to act as grown ups and a slug came crawling across here.
"The conversation came up, 'should I eat it?' [and] off Sam went. Bang. That's how it happened."
At that point, no one knew just how deadly that one garden slug could be to the once gifted rugby player.
He probably thought eating such a harmless animal like a slug would cause nothing more than an upset stomach - if that.
Instead, what Ballard would later discover was that the invertebrate was infected with a parasite known as rat lungworm, which caused him to suffer from severe weakness and pain throughout his legs.
It then lead him to contract a strand of meningitis known as eosinophilic meningoencephalitis, a severe but treatable disease that further worsened his condition.
Ballard fell into a 420-day coma and the toll that one small dare had on his life was irreparable.
When he woke up he was no longer a teen, and he learned of the horrors that had taken hold of his body.
It was discovered that the parasite had caused an infection that spread to Ballard's brain, resulting in severe paralysis and an inability to eat without assistance.
Now, YouTuber Zack D.Films has created an educational simulation telling his viewers exactly what happened to Ballard's body as the parasite took a hold of his body.
It explained how Ballard contracted the parasite through the slug, and while the human body is usually able to get rid of parasites itself, the parasite in Ballard's case had managed to spread its larva into his brain.
This is what caused him to fall into the 420-day coma, which left him with severe brain damage.
The video will hopefully show teenagers the dangers of following through on precarious dares like eating slugs or other parasite-carrying animals.
Heartbreakingly, Ballard required around the clock care by his mom and lived his life in a wheelchair, until he passed away in November 2018 aged 29.
His family have insisted that his friends should feel no blame in Ballard eating the slug.
Speaking at his funeral in 2018, his brother Joshua said to his friends: "We don't want you to feel any guilt about what happened that night."
Adding: "Your friendship to Sam was extraordinary."