Today, the news of the death of an Australian young man has plunged thousands of strangers into unspeakable regret.
The once-promising sportsman, who lost his youth because of ignorance and recklessness, a child who fought tenaciously with donations and attention from millions of people, finally set his life at the young age of 27.
As Sam Ballard, a 27-year-old Australian boy, lay dead in a hospital bed, he tried his best to say the last word of his life: "Mom, I love you!"
Who could have thought of a small mistake in the summer of 2010, which brought the boy such a deep and unfathomable pain to the family?
No one ever said it couldn`t be eaten.
In 2010, Sam just turned 19. That year, the sunny boy was a famous Rugby (rugby) player at school. Among the youthful Australian campuses, rugby players are the brightest stars on campus. He is a hero in the eyes of his classmates and the pride of his parents.
He was thinking that his future might soon be in the national league
One weekend night in the summer of 2010, he was barbecuing with friends in his yard in Upper North District, Sydney. To celebrate the adult world, he and his friends opened wine and toasted like adults.
After three rounds of wine, the young people drank a little happy, want to have some fun. Just then a slug crawled slowly across the concrete board of the balcony. After the summer rain, it was normal to see slugs and snails in the yard.
But that`s when Sam was wondering, "can you eat this?"
Of course, people find the idea disgusting, but it`s a group of drunk young people. Sam`s idea inspired the "brave game" in everyone`s mind. So the friends began to coax and encourage him to try.
The crystal-clear slug, unaware that he had become the focus, crept nearer and nearer as the covetous young men. If you`ve seen Betsy`s wilderness survive, you`ll probably believe that if you`re not afraid of nausea, there`s nothing you can`t eat at the bottom of the day.
Sam simply thinks: since snails can make good food, the snot worm is almost the same. No one has ever told Sam and his friends that snot worms can`t be eaten,
To show his guts, Sam really grabbed the slug and stuffed it in his mouth.
He was flooded with applause and cheers from his friends like a hero. They did not know, however, that this feat had unfolded a complete tragedy.
Inexplicable, I can`t afford to get sick.
Nobody felt anything wrong with the "raw slug" except the villains. After Sam had eaten the slug, there was nothing wrong with it. But a few days later, he suddenly felt a dull pain in his leg. He is an athlete, and he can bear pain more than the average person, but this time the pain, not like from the muscles or bones, is more hysterical pain.
He was a little worried about eating slug at first, but his mother didn`t think it was possible. Mother said:
"I`ve never heard of anyone getting sick from eating snot."
And pain is the part of the leg, if it is a snot bug, how should first be stomachache or stomachache. So the whole family doesn`t believe in anything to do with runny worms.
They wondered if they had inherited his father`s multiple sclerosis, but Sam was only 19 years old, and the disease was not likely to develop at such a young age. After a few days of pain, Sam suddenly began to have a high fever.
Sam, who was alive a few days ago, somehow fell into a coma
It`s the snot bug.
Sam was in a sudden coma, and her mother was at a loss. After several tests by doctors, we found an incredible cause for all families: "Rat lung nematode infection" causes eosinophilic meningitis.
Most people, like them, have never heard of it. It is a parasitic nematode, usually found in the lungs, brain supplements and blood of mice, and is transferred to animals such as snails, slugs, fish and shrimp through the feces of mice.
Once the rat lung nematode enters the brain, it can cause meningitis. Sam ate the slug that just carried the rat lung nematode.
The leg pain he felt was caused by the brain being invaded by a rat lung nematode! But due to lack of timely detection, missed the best treatment period, now the brain has been severely eroded by rat lung nematodes.
Sam, this coma is 420days! When he woke up again, it was late.
He was completely destroyed by the parasite.
Although meningitis is terrifying and not incurable, Sam`s this time infected mouse lung nematode was so bad that it severely destroyed his brain in a short period of time. During the 420 days of his coma, the doctor tried his best to save the young life. After repeated surgeries and forced efforts by antibiotics, Sam finally woke up.
But this excellent athlete has become a "loser" who can`t even take care of himself.
After waking up, Sam, was completely paralyzed. I can`t eat myself, I can`t defecate myself, I can`t move my limbs, I can`t even turn my eyes.
He was so paralyzed in his bed that he was connected to all kinds of monitors, and he could die at any moment.
All the people`s lives that night were change.
Sam`s brain has been irreversibly damaged, and it is impossible for him to regain his ability to act as a normal person. For the rest of his life, he could only make little effort to make paralysis less complete.
Seeing Sam like this, all the friends who were there that night were remorseful. If someone had stopped him from swallowing the runny worm, nothing would have happened, but now it`s too late.
They come almost every day to apologize to Sam and live in remorse every day.
Of course, the hardest part is Sam`s mother. She also regretted that she had not known about the parasite earlier, that she had not given her children more common sense of life, that she had let the reckless child destroy her life. But she`s the only thing Sam has to rely on right now. She quit her job and helped Sam cooperate with the doctor`s treatment all the time.
Sam recovered very hard under his mother`s care, and after 16 months of effort, Sam was able to turn his eyes and lift his arms gently.
But after nearly 2 years of day and night torment mother is about to run out of energy and savings.
In 2011, Sam`s mother had no choice but to publish her son`s story online, asking for social help. She wants Sam to get better, but she needs more people to help them get through it.
The tragedy shook Australia
Sam was shared thousands of times, and strangers who donated to him swarmed in. Government has a dedicated caregiver to help Sam with rehabilitation, and covers a portion of the cost of the treatment. The stranger`s donation gave the exhausted mother a hint of comfort.
During the seven years from 2011 to 2018, many people were thinking about Sam every day, people were donating money to the family every day, and thousands of people were looking forward to the child getting better.
If he knew about the parasite sooner, he wouldn`t eat that slug.
In fact, 19-year-old Sam really just made a curious child often make a small mistake. For this, he missed his best years. He lost his bright future and lived in pain and struggle every day.
He should not bear such a bitter price.
How horrible the parasite is.
Everyone sympathized with the child and was even more shocked by the tragedy of ignorance. Sam used his own tragedy to remind everyone that the tiny snot bug in the yard could be fatal.
Before that, people didn`t eat these bugs because they were disgusting, and how many people really knew that the parasites hidden in these things were the really scary killer!
Living snails, fish, shrimps, slugs and frogs can all be infected with parasites. If these things are not thoroughly cooked into the stomach, parasites or eggs can easily enter the body, slowly eroding the blood or brain!
Not only are these animals likely to carry parasites, the vegetables they climb, the water they live in can also hide thousands of parasites!
A netizen left a message to tell everyone that he was infected with pulmonary nematodes because he had eaten the vegetables that had not been washed clean. Fortunately, the doctor found that he had been treated in time for the blood test, otherwise his fate might be the same as Sam!
Parasites are so close to our lives! what happened to Sam made many people pay attention to food hygiene and safety!
Vegetables should be hot with boiling water, meat-cutting knives and chopping boards should be separated from fruits and vegetables! Flies and mosquitoes bite the food and try to deal with it before eating it! Eat less raw meat!
Remember to tell the kids in the house! Every one of these could help!
After 7 years of hard work, the tenacious Sam has made great progress! He can even smile happily and respond with eyes and vague words to see his friends. Everyone thought the poor boy had hope.
But just over the weekend, everyone who cares about Sam is waiting for one of the worst news. It all turned out to be a tragedy because of a moment of ignorance, and after eight years of suffering, he left the world, the most unacceptable tragedy in Australia today.
Sam`s last phrase, "Mom I love you," contains a lot of discord and remorse. I hope there will never be another such tragedy.
If Sam`s death could make more ignorant people aware of the dangers of parasites and keep more people from doing the same thing, that might be his only consolation.
Now is about to enter the summer, a lot of insects and animals are beginning to be active, is also the most active parasite time, When you finish reading this article must remember to remind everyone around you that the bravery of ignorance is reckless disease from the mouth of human beings spent tens of thousands of years learning to cook just to eat food more safely should be cleaned should be dealt with seriously! Some things can`t be eaten, just can`t eat!
