Brandon Silk.JPG

Brandon Silk and his mother, Rosa, prepare for his return to Freedom High School.

(Express-Times File Photo | STEPHEN FLOOD)

sophomore Brandon Silk couldn't get through his first day of school without a slight exposure to Axe body spray.

due to a life-threatening allergy attributed to Axe.

last spring

.

Brandon, his parents and officials at the Bethlehem Township, Pa., school have spent the summer drafting a re-entry plan to get him back.

On the first day of school Monday, school officials introduced Brandon to his classmates and explained his allergy. Families were called over the weekend to notify them of Brandon's allergy.

But a student wore the spray, and a slight exposure left Brandon with small welts on his arms and a bad headache, his mother, Rosa Silk, said Wednesday. He stayed home from school on Tuesday and headed back Wednesday to give it another go.

Freedom Principal Michael LaPorta has been working closely with Silk, and they arranged to meet Wednesday morning in his office, Rosa Silk said. LaPorta offered to walk him to his classes and explain the allergy, she said.

"Brandon was really apprehensive on Tuesday night. I said, 'It's your decision on Wednesday,'" his mother said. "He woke up and he said, 'I'm going to give it another try.'"

Wednesday morning, Brandon didn't even make it into the building before a busload of students pulled up. At least one of them was wearing Axe and Brandon immediately caught a whiff of it, his mother said.

Rashes were already spreading on his arms when LaPorta called the nurse, who arrived quickly, Silk said. By then Brandon was going into anaphylactic shock so an EpiPen shot was administered.

An ambulance took Brandon to the hospital where he was given a steroid. Wednesday night, his mother said, he was resting at home.

"It's terrible what he's going through," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "He wants to go so bad and I can't send him there."

Silk said she is lobbying for a district ban on perfumes and body sprays. Unless it is an enforceable policy, Silk said, she doesn't see kids abiding by the request to not wear the spray.

"What do you say to a kid? 'I'm sorry you can't go to school because kids are wearing Axe body spray and you're highly allergic to it?'" Silk said. "It's ridiculous."

The Silks don't know exactly what ingredient of Axe to which Brandon is allergic. The manufacturer, Unilever, said it provided a list of ingredients and continues to work with the Silks. But Silk said there is no way to test to see what component to which her son is allergic.

Silk doesn't know the next step. Brandon needs to avoid exposure to Axe for some time because his reactions escalate the closer together the exposures are, Silk said. Freedom officials have been in close contact with her, she said.

Silk hopes to avoid again resorting to home-bound instruction, which is only five hours a week. She wants him to be able to join clubs and play sports like his peers.

"He brought his book bag this morning. He was ready to be very optimistic about going to his classes," his mother said Wednesday. "It is heartbreaking for him to be taken out of there in an ambulance again scared. Every time you go through it your fear is heightened more."