An NSCC student in Pictou County is afraid to go back to class after suffering a severe peanut allergy on campus.

Micah Osborne was in one of the school’s computer labs at the Stellarton campus last week when something scary happened.

“I scratched my face and the next thing I know, my tongue’s swelling up, my throat’s starting to swell up. I’m getting right panicky, it’s hard to breathe,” describes the first-year business student.

Osborne has had a severe peanut allergy since childhood and he quickly recognized the signs of a bad reaction.

“This one was a lot different, a lot quicker, and it was worse,” he says. “It was way scarier. I really thought I could have died.”

Osborne was rushed to hospital by ambulance and discharged a few hours later after receiving treatment.

He believes someone may have been eating a peanut product while using the computer in the lab.

School officials say wipes are available to clean the keyboards and they do all they can to make the campus a safe environment, but it’s not possible to make the facility a peanut-free zone.

“We cannot ensure a peanut-free environment if you will, because it is a public building, much like a shopping mall,” says Audrey Arsenault of the NSCC Pictou Campus. “It would be virtually impossible to make sure that all traces of allergens are removed.”

“If they don’t make it peanut-free, at least more aware and more careful and hopefully not have any food or drink in the computer classrooms,” says Osborne.

He says he plans to go back to class this week, and while he plans to be more vigilant, he also hopes people at the college start taking his allergies more seriously.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh