An Australian man died Friday, more than eight years after being paralyzed by eating a garden slug on a teenage dare.

Sam Ballard, then 19 and a star rugby player, reportedly became infected with rat lungworm after eating a slug on a spur-of-the-moment challenge by friends during a “wine appreciation night” back in 2010.

“The conversation came up, you know, ‘Should I eat it?,’ and off Sam went,” friend Jimmy Galvin told news.com.au. “Bang. That’s how it happened.”

Ballard didn’t get sick until a few days later but eating the slug was quickly dismissed as a cause, with his mother telling him “no-one gets sick from that.” Multiple sclerosis, which his father had, was also feared to be causing his symptoms before being ruled out.

In this special report @Lisa_Wilkinson talks to the amazing family and friends of Sam Ballard #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/UXY5KGeWjF — The Project (@theprojecttv) April 1, 2018

Contracting eosinophilic meningoencephalitis from the rat lungworm, he wound up falling into a coma for 420 days and, due to brain damage, was paralyzed when he awoke.

Nearly nine years after chowing down on the slug, Ballard, 29, died in Sydney’s Hornsby Hospital, according to reports out of Australia, surrounded by friends and his mother, Katie Ballard.

“He had his voice and he said ‘I love you’ several times to Katie,” a friend told 10 Daily.

“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,” Ballard’s online obituary said. “His last days were the happiest and he was surrounded by a room full of love.”