BBQ ‘pitmistress’ gets meat allergy from a tick bite

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated to correct Dr. Mobley’s quote about Alpha-gal. He said Alpha-gal could cause a potentially deadly allergic reaction and that anyone experiencing severe symptoms should seek medical attention immediately. KNWA/FOX24 regrets the error.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/FOX24) — Summer is in full swing and that means it’s time to have fun spending time outdoors and also eating some good barbecue. Those two things can have a more serious outcome if you happen to get bit by a certain kind of tick.

Dana Neely, owner of Girls Gone BBQ in Fayetteville, knows firsthand how quickly life can change from a tick bite. When you walk into Girls Gone BBQ Neely wants you to feel like you’re at home.

“I feel like I’m kind of recreating my childhood, I love mid-century mod style,” she said. “You should really check out our bathroom. It’s like you’re at grandma’s house, simple but homey.”

She coined the term “Pitmistress” and is the only woman in town serving up pulled pork, brisket, ribs, smoked black-eyed peas and fried okra.

“This is my love, this is my passion,” she said.

This Arkansas Delta native opened her shop in 2022 with the goal of providing barbecue for everyone, from people who are gluten-free to dairy-free and even vegans.

“I like to call it inclusive barbeque,” she said. “Everybody needs to be part of the barbecue experience.”

She said making barbecue is like creating art.

“It’s when you get the smoker and get the coals going and when you get the wood going,” she said. “It’s low and slow and you have to keep it at a certain temperature.”

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It hasn’t been an easy ride for Neely to operate her dream business. In 2020 she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“December 2020, stage three lobular breast cancer and then in February 2021 I had a double mastectomy,” she said.

Her health concerns took another turn in July of 2023, and would have an even bigger impact on her ability to run her barbecue shop. And it all started with a tick bite.

Neely said she doesn’t really remember getting a tick bite but when she had a steak fillet for the first time in a while, her body had a completely new reaction.

“I hadn’t had any beef in a long time and I decided I was craving a steak so I made up a fillet,” she remembered. “The next morning, I woke up and couldn’t hear anything because my ears were swollen shut. Then my whole body started itching and I said, I need to look at myself. I did and my eyes were all swollen, my nose was swollen, my face was swollen. I immediately knew that I had Alpha-gal.”

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Dr. Seth Mobley is a family medicine doctor with Mercy in Springdale. He explains what Alpha-gal Syndrome is.

“Alpha-gal is a combination of a carbohydrate in a protein that is found in pretty much the cells of all different organisms except mammalian primates, so humans,” he said.

He said when ticks with this protein bite a human, it transfers into your blood.

“Unfortunately, this has been linked to causing some allergy symptoms or some intolerance to red meats, so beef, pork, lamb,” he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said suspected Alpha-gal cases are predominantly in areas where the lone star tick is reported. Northwest Arkansas is right in the heart of that region. The map below is from the CDC.

“I think there’s been some cases where they come from different kinds of ticks as well,” said Dr. Mobley. “So there’s not really a this tick versus the other, but the lone star one is the one that is notorious for it.”

Dr. Mobley said Alpha-gal will cause an allergic reaction, which could even lead to a potentially deadly anaphylactic reaction.

“Essentially it’s an allergic reaction, so similar to like things you’d be allergic to, usually it’s not as bad as like a full anaphylactic reaction that you think about needing an EpiPen for or anything.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alpha-gal is a serious and potentially life-threatening allergic reaction, and symptoms appear “after people eat red meat or are exposed to other products containing Alpha-gal.”

Getting Alpha-gal was a devastating discovery for Neely.

“I broke down,” she said. “I called Quincy and cried all day long. I knew it was going to be a big challenge and we had to navigate it.”

She had to completely change how she operates.

“I can’t be on the beef smoker, the pork smoker as well because it’s cooking,” she said. “I don’t wash the dishes either because the meat sprays up.”

They even have separate workstations and preparation utensils. They have separate smokers and make sure to prepare the different meats on the stove at different times.

“You can’t have pork splattering onto chicken,” she explained.

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Neely trained Quincy Kelly in the art of barbecue. She’s the one who has to handle most of the meat preparation now.

“I prep all the meat, I run the smokers, I run the line, I do a lot of the prep as well,” she said. “It’s a lot of heavy lifting.”

Kelly said Neely’s courage and perseverance are inspiring.

“She’s the most amazing, courageous person that I know,” she said.

They’ve created a whole menu for people who have Alpha-gal Syndrome to still get their barbecue kick.

“It can be a bit scary because I’ve seen Dana’s reactions and I want to make sure anybody who comes in here is safe and nobody reacts and so we all have separate things,” she said.

Neely is encouraging you to defend yourself against tick bites as you spend time outside this summer.

“As much as we hate it, wear the DEET and you know if you’ve been outdoors definitely check yourself when you get in,” she said.

And she wants you to know that you can have some good home cooking to eat at her shop, no matter what your food restrictions are.

“Come in and eat the Delta-style barbecue and our homemade southern sides, everything’s house-made,” she said.

Neely said business is good at Girls Gone BBQ but now she needs another set of hands to help out in the areas she can’t anymore. Her next goal is to hire another person to work in her restaurant.

If you want to help Neely reach that goal, you can always eat at her restaurant, or you can donate to the GoFundMe fundraiser started by her mother.

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