About Us

Technical support

Lee Ann Kendrick lives in Fayetteville, AR, is a mother, and a grandmother of two girls. She is the owner at Lake Designs Associates, a small graphic design and marketing agency, focusing primarily on web development and branding. After years of health issue mysteries, she found reference to alpha-gal after keeping a food diary following allergic episodes, and requested testing in 2017. Lee Ann has a passion for cooking, and has embraced alpha-gal as a challenge to keep finding ways to cook meals that she loves.

Editor
Researcher

Crystal Norton resides in Burlington, NC and is a mother to two children and one fur baby. She has a background in psychology and art, and enjoys all things creative and enjoying the beauty of nature. She has had AGS likely since 2004. She highly suspected AGS in 2016 and found the answers to her ailments on the internet as “red meat allergy.” She was not diagnosed until 2017, when doctors did not believe it was a real illness until there were positive test results.

Researcher, tick-related resources
Original compiler of the Patient Recommended Physicians database

Eric & Jennifer Burton moved to NW Arkansas in 2004. Jennifer is a busy wife, mother & grandmother. She has worked for NorthWest Arkansas Community College for 14 years in the Information Technology Dept as the Admin Analyst to the CIO & manages the college’s annual IT budget.

All her life she’s had a love for cooking, gardening, camping & the outdoors. But in Sept of 2016 Jennifer’s health took a turn for the worse. For the next 6 months she lost time from work suffering with extreme GI pain, chronic fatigue, inflammation, swelling, outbreaks of hives, then anaphylaxis. The doctor was unable to find the cause. Then Jennifer barely survived a 4th anaphylaxis attack on Feb 28, 2017. Several blood tests & doctor’s appointments later, she was told she had become highly allergic to beef, pork & lamb. The final diagnosis – Alpha Gal Syndrome (AGS).

The diagnosis is life altering. For Jennifer it doesn’t just mean stop eating mammal meats, cheese & dairy, which is hard enough – it means researching all other forms of mammal you never thought of. In prescriptions, gelatin capsules, candy, personal care products, makeup. The list is endless and daunting. Jennifer and Eric serve in the Care & Outreach ministries.

Jennifer created emergency medical/contact card and restaurant cards.

Tami McGraw
Creator, AGS CafePress Store (defunct)

Tami McGraw lives in beautiful Pittsboro, NC with her husband and youngest son, Michael. She loves gardening, CrossFit and cooking. Her family includes four children and three grandchildren. After years of complex, confusing health problems and multiple incorrect diagnoses, she was finally tested for Alpha Gal at her request. She has been vocal in Alpha Gal awareness for years now, trying to help protect others from acquiring this crazy, life changing allergy.

Original compiler of the Facebook Support Group database

Founder of the AGS Emotional Support Team (defunct)

Dori Svardal is a 45-year-old female that lives in Springfield, Missouri. She has been a police dispatcher for 20 years. She enjoys writing, painting, playing with her furbaby and visiting with friends. In 2015, after suffering with an unknown illness for 9 months, she suspected she had Alpha Gal Syndrome through her own research. It was then confirmed through a blood test ordered by a reluctant allergist. She values the many wonderful friendships she’s made, despite the fact that AGS was often the thing that brought many of those friends together.