Teenager left severely disabled after a dare opens up his world to viewers. Source: The Project Australia
It was the kind of ridiculous dare typical teenage boys would do after a few drinks.
But Sam Ballard was left profoundly disabled after swallowing a garden slug at a party as a dare at 19.
He has to be tube fed after contracting rat lungworm from the backyard slug.
He and his mates Jimmy Galvin and Michael Sheasby appeared on Australia's Sunday Project alongside Sam and his mum Katie last weekend to discuss the now 28-year-old's moving account of how his life has changed as a result of his decision that night.
Sam Ballard was an invincible larrikin before he ate a slug on a dare, says his mother. Photo / Supplied
"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," Galvin said.
"The conversation came up, should I eat it? Off Sam went. Bang. That's how it happened," Galvin said.
As previously reported by news.com.au, Ballard was a strapping, fun-loving rugby player when he went to a mate's party eight years ago.
A group of young friends was sitting around a table drinking red wine when a slug was produced and one of them said to Sam: "Eat it, I dare you".
Before his illness, Ballard's mother Katie had thought of her son as a "larrikin" but "invincible", that nothing could ever happen to him.
She described him as "my rough-and-tumble Sam".
At Barker College, in Sydney's northern suburbs where he went to school, fellow students thought of Ballard as a beautiful, outgoing kid, sporty, a star of drama, kind, and that the girls loved him.
Jimmy Galvin, left, has supported his friend Sam Ballard since the fateful night. Photo / News Limited
But the teenager's life was to take a devastating turn after an evening with friends.
Ballard fell ill from the slug dare and was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital where he was diagnosed as having been infected with rat lungworm.
The worm is found in rodents, but snails or slugs can become infected when they eat the faeces of rats that carry the parasite, known as Angiostrongylus cantonensis.
Most people develop no symptoms, but very rarely it causes an infection of the brain.
Ballard contracted eosinophilic meningo-encephalitis, from which many people recover — and, initially at least, Ballard seemed to be rallying.
Sam Ballard is a paraplegic and profoundly disabled after eating a slug. Photo / Sunday Project
But then he lapsed into a coma for 420 days and became a quadriplegic.
Ballard's mother maintained a positive attitude and in late November 2011, posted her hopes on Facebook that Sam would "walk and talk again" and that he still had the same cheeky attitude.
But as Katie Ballard would later say of her son's life: "It's devastated, changed his life forever, changed my life forever. It's huge. The impact is huge."
When he was released from hospital in a motorised wheelchair three years after becoming ill, Ballard's mates rallied around him. Ballard, his family and friends have suffered abuse from online trolls.
"[They'd say] the boys should be the ones paying for Sam to be looked after," Katie said. "How stupid that a kid does something like that and expects everybody to pay for it. It's tough to fathom that there are people that can't understand there is a very sick kid who has lost everything health-wise. His family have lost him, you know. And all the great times they should have had with him."
Galvin said he understood that Katie Ballard does not blame him. He and the group of friends were just being mates.
"I do know that, which is comforting," Galvin said. "I have spoken with Katie about that and that's the least of my worries, I only care about Sam and his family and what we do in this situation, what we are doing in the future. My feelings are irrelevant to be honest."
Sam needs 24/7 care, leaving his and his family's lives devastated, says mother Katie. Photo / News Corp
And his message is clear.
"Just take care of your mates. Before you jump off a roof into pool or daring your mate to eat something stupid. It can have the worse consequences not only on your mate and the rest of your friends, the rest of your life, just take care of each other," he said.
But the Sam of old is still there, his mates say.
Eight years ago, 19-year-old Sam Ballard became paralysed after eating a garden slug. Tonight @Lisa_Wilkinson talks to his family and friends who have fought tirelessly for his recovery and quality of life. #TheProjectTVpic.twitter.com/xbfiP0MRNf
Another mate, Michael Sheasby said, "Seeing where he is now, being able to move his arms or just grip something, that to me is a huge improvement. The walking into the room and a hands coming out to give you a handshake. It's that kind of stuff."
Galvin added: "We like to sit down and watch the footy and watch the rugby. I try and make it matey and fun - we will crack a beer, when Katie goes out of the room, he reaches for it, he gets his lips out and sometimes we put a little bit of beer on his lips."
Interviewer Lisa Wilkinson asked, "Can you still see your mate Sam in there?"
"They go bang when you walk into the room. I apologised to Sam about everything that happened that night in the backyard. He just started crying his eyes out."
"Team Ballard" raised money for the 24/7 care that the young man would require, but it could never be enough.
Now aged 28, Sam suffers seizures and cannot control his body temperature, the Daily Telegraph reported.
He has to be tube fed.
Katie Ballard applied to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) when Sam became eligible for a $492,000 package in 2016.
But last September without warning, the NDIS texted Katie Ballard to say a review of his plan had slashed his allocation to around $135,000.
The massive funding cut was without explanation and around-the-clock care means the Ballard family are heavily in debt.
They owe a nursing service $42,000.
The NDIS told the Daily Telegraph it had been "working closely with the Ballard family" to find a resolution and increase Sam's support package.
A spokesperson for the National Disability Insurance Agency confirmed Ballard's plan had been adjusted back to the original level of funding, blaming the reduction by more than two-thirds was the result of an error not a policy change, The Project was told.
