The emotional final moments of a young rugby player who died eight years after swallowing a slug and becoming a paraplegic have been revealed.
Sam Ballard, 28, died on Friday at Sydney’s Hornsby Hospital after battling with a condition contracted from rat lungworm in 2010.
Mr Ballard passed away in the morning ‘surrounded by 20 of those he most loved in the world,’ his mother, Katie Ballard, said.
The emotional final moments of young footy player Sam Ballard, 28, (right) who died eight years after swallowing a slug and becoming a paraplegic have been revealed
Mr Ballard (pictured) passed away in the morning ‘surrounded by 20 of those he most loved in the world,’ his mother Katie said
Mr Ballard’s (right) funeral will take place on Thursday at the Palm Chapel at Macquarie Park Crematorium, to which the public are invited and encouraged to wear a ‘splash of red or blue’
Katie Ballard also told Ten Daily ‘the room was so full of love’.
He said ‘I love you’ moments before passing way, she added.
A friend of Mr Ballard, who was also present in the room during his final moments, confirmed the young man told his mother several times he loved her before he died.
The 28-year-old’s heartfelt final exchanges with his friends and family emerged as a touching obituary for the former footy player appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Katie Ballard also said ‘the room was so full of love’ and her son said ‘I love you’ to her before passing away
A friend of Mr Ballard (right), who was also present in the room during his final moments, confirmed the young man told his mother several times he loved her before he died.
The 28-year-old’s heartfelt final exchanges with his friends and family emerged as a touching obituary for him appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald
It read: ‘Sam was a true battler and hero to his younger brother Joshua and sister Melanie.
‘He had an army of friends and family who have loved and cared for him for which he was truly grateful.
‘His last days were the happiest and he was surrounded by a room full of love.’
Mr Ballard’s funeral will take place on Thursday at the Palm Chapel at Macquarie Park Crematorium, to which the public are invited and encouraged to wear a ‘splash of red or blue’.
The death of the once promising young rugby player and former Barker College student has also been met by an outpouring of grief, with many people online paying tribute to his ‘courage’ and determination.
‘May Sam’s star always shine bright, just the way it did in life,’ a mourner wrote.
‘That’s terrible, my son shared his room with him at the Ryde rehabilitation centre. He was a courageous young man. RIP Sam and condolences to his family and friends,’ another said.
Mr Ballard was with mates at a friend’s 19th birthday party when his life was irreversibly changed.
Friends Jimmy Galvin and Michael Sheasby told The Project, in April this year, of the fateful night.
‘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,’ Mr Galvin said.
‘The conversation came up, “should I eat it?” Off Sam went. Bang. That’s how it happened.’
Mr Ballard fell ill after eating the slug and was told by doctors he had been infected with ‘rat lungworm’.
The worm is commonly found in rats but snails or slugs can be infected when they eat rodent droppings.
Tragically, Mr Ballard contracted eosinophilic meningo-encephalitis and lapsed into a coma for 420 days, suffering a severe infection to his brain.
‘He was a courageous young man’: Those closest to Mr Ballard (pictured) have paid tribute to his determination after his incident in 2010
Others online who payed tribute to the young man urged his friends to celebrate his life after all the hardships.
‘I hope the friends that were with him when he swallowed the slug, especially the one who dared him,’ one tribute read.
‘Let go of the guilt and try to find some peace themselves. Don’t let the guilt of the role you played destroy your lives, your mate wouldn’t have wanted that.’
‘Rest In Peace Sam. Hopefully your friends will keep visiting your mum and family in the coming years. Sympathy to you all,’ another wrote.
Mr Ballard (pictured) spent three years in hospital after the incident
Prior to the dare, Mr Ballard was a promising young rugby star at Barker College on Sydney’s north shore. Mr Ballard’s mother Katie (right) described her son as a ‘larrikin’ but ‘invincible’
Before the accident, Mr Ballard’s mother described how she saw her son as ‘invincible’.
In a Facebook post from 2011, Ms Ballard said she hoped her son would walk again.
‘Sam is doing really well. He is still the same cheeky Sam, and laughs a lot. He will walk and talk again (thank god) but the time factor is was we don’t know,’ she wrote.
She later said the accident completely changed his life.
‘It’s devastated, changed his life forever, changed my life forever. It’s huge. The impact is huge,’ she said.