2013 was a Summer I'll never forget. Our family of eight had just taken a trip to the AR/MO border and unbeknownst to me, I brought home a lone star tick as a souvenir. Three weeks later I found myself jolting out of bed, covered in hives, blood pressure plummeting, and terrified that I was about to die and leave my husband and six children without a wife and mom. The emergency room was little help as they hit me with epi-pen after epi-pen in between giving me medications encapsulated in gelatin, setting the whole reaction process off over again. I came home from a prolonged hospital stay on 13 medications to be taken around the clock and no understanding of what was happening with my body. 

By God's grace, I found an allergist who vaguely understood alpha gal and ordered the labs. Sure enough, the test came back positive, and as you know, life has never been the same. 

Raised on a cattle farm, with plenty of tick bites throughout my life, I struggled to wrap my mind around my diagnosis. No medical professional could offer any information except to avoid more tick bites and avoid mammal meat. 

Over a year, the major reactions diminished, but autoimmune diseases started creeping in as histamine and inflammation levels crept up. My life as a 34 year old was becoming quite miserable. It was time to take action. After much prayer, I enrolled in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and finally learned the keys to helping my body, mind, and soul heal. Once my health was on solid ground, I opened a private practice to help others do the same. 

10 years later and now a National Board Certified Health Coach, I am more committed than ever to helping those with alpha gal syndrome and their families, understand this allergy and learn to thrive in spite of it.