This message was posted on facebook by David Zent, a client receiving Touch Therapy while being treated for cancer:
"I barely make it to the recliner. When I reach it, my knees begin to buckle; but the hands gently catch me under by shaky arms, support my weight, and guide me down to where I can lay back in a weary combination of gratefulness and utter fatigue.
On fire inside from daily radiation and every cell traumatized by a full week of exposure to chemotherapy, this has been one of the worst days of my life, leaving me in doubt of my own survival. The house could burn down around me and I would be helpless, and probably grateful to go with it....and then.....I hear music, soft, sublime, and start to wonder if the angels have come for me; but no, I'm still in the recliner, still in the midst of my agonies, still half-wishing I could just die and give the devil his due. Tears fill my eyes from the sheer helplessness of it all, but then he begins, and the world changes in my favor. The hands are ready, and brother, so am I. One of them rests on the crest of my head, the other is gently placed atop my upper chest, and through three layers of sweatsuits, (I have no body fat now and am always cold), I feel an astounding current of warmth begin to pour through me.
The relief is almost instant, like a river of comfort has somehow broken thru my mighty dam of pain. It's almost startling, this comfort, the most beautiful feeling I can remember in many weeks. The hands move slowly, methodically, tracing some secret pathway in my muscles with a light touch that wouldn't disturb the sleep of a baby, but have the effect of liberation wherever they press and hold, press....and hold.....press......and release.....
The treatment includes my arms, neck, head, shoulders, legs, knees, feet, the cumulative effect becoming profound, bordering on the miraculous, especially compared to my burden just a short while ago. And when nearly an hour of this has been applied, I am floating in the ether, neither in pain or even much aware of any sensation but the sweet, warm power flowing from those gentle hands.
When I awaken the next morning, I am 180 degrees a different person. I lie in bed and marvel. How could this be?
Touched by and Angel? Darn right. And his name is David Dowdy.
I met Dave five years or so ago on facebook, in one of those cross-pollinations that often occur when friends of a friend discover someone who intrigues them, or who share a common interest. We had a similar whacked sense of humor, and often traded quips, stories, and the like. Bantering like the goofy jokers we are. I admired his positive spirit, never saw a mean post or a criticism that felt derisive. That's my kind of guy! But, in all that time, we'd never personally met. I was struggling with the unceasing stress of running live theatres and taking care of my ailing mother, and he was every bit as busy too.
I didn't know, thought, that Dave Dowdy was busy helping heal and comfort the critically ill, and spending nearly all his time from the early AM to the darker reaches of the evening, bringing comfort to people in my kind of bad fix. Dave has a genuine gift for doing so. He is The Real Deal. The kind who possesses a genuine calling, like a minister who actually CAN call fire down from the heavens, not just refer you to some dry passage in the Bible. And he does this with an obvious heart full of compassion.
Dave was sent to me by another 'minister', my friend Jeanette Richardson, a force of nature in Bakersfield arts culture, who knew of my plight with cancer and who, out of love, sponsored my sessions with Dave. It is my opinion that these good souls saved my life and were largely responsible for turning the odds back in my favor. It is a gift I will never forget, and tears are welling up right now when I think of the depths from which they help me rise.
Dave has worked on my a number of times at critical junctures in my torturous cancer treatments. His technique (which he teaches through the nonprofit organization Healing Hands ~ Healing Hearts, where he serves as president and therapist) is described as 'Touch Therapy for the Critically, Chronically, and Terminally Ill.' There are many practitioners in the organization. It is NOT a commercial enterprise, but a mission-driven institution (please God, more of those).
I know first hand, this works. It changes the odds. It turned me around. And this post is out of grateful recognition of that fact. I've had plenty of massages; I'm used to deep tissue, limb-bending, hard pressure styles that, while very good, are unsuitable for the very ill, as I often was, as many of the elderly become who have such difficulty getting relief.
It is a simple and elegant technique; the clothes stay on, no oils or lotions needed. Dave practices it successfully on all ages.
If you or a loved one need this too, in all sincerity, call my Hero, my friend, my best resource for real comfort along this rocky road I've been dragged over, and see if David Dowdy or one of the other highly trained therapists can bring some of that comfort to your home. They come to you!
I want to stress again, this ain't no commercial, but a heartfelt word from a grateful friend to my friends who need this too. It helped save me, and my family is pretty thankful.
God Bless Mr. Dowdy"
"I barely make it to the recliner. When I reach it, my knees begin to buckle; but the hands gently catch me under by shaky arms, support my weight, and guide me down to where I can lay back in a weary combination of gratefulness and utter fatigue.
On fire inside from daily radiation and every cell traumatized by a full week of exposure to chemotherapy, this has been one of the worst days of my life, leaving me in doubt of my own survival. The house could burn down around me and I would be helpless, and probably grateful to go with it....and then.....I hear music, soft, sublime, and start to wonder if the angels have come for me; but no, I'm still in the recliner, still in the midst of my agonies, still half-wishing I could just die and give the devil his due. Tears fill my eyes from the sheer helplessness of it all, but then he begins, and the world changes in my favor. The hands are ready, and brother, so am I. One of them rests on the crest of my head, the other is gently placed atop my upper chest, and through three layers of sweatsuits, (I have no body fat now and am always cold), I feel an astounding current of warmth begin to pour through me.
The relief is almost instant, like a river of comfort has somehow broken thru my mighty dam of pain. It's almost startling, this comfort, the most beautiful feeling I can remember in many weeks. The hands move slowly, methodically, tracing some secret pathway in my muscles with a light touch that wouldn't disturb the sleep of a baby, but have the effect of liberation wherever they press and hold, press....and hold.....press......and release.....
The treatment includes my arms, neck, head, shoulders, legs, knees, feet, the cumulative effect becoming profound, bordering on the miraculous, especially compared to my burden just a short while ago. And when nearly an hour of this has been applied, I am floating in the ether, neither in pain or even much aware of any sensation but the sweet, warm power flowing from those gentle hands.
When I awaken the next morning, I am 180 degrees a different person. I lie in bed and marvel. How could this be?
Touched by and Angel? Darn right. And his name is David Dowdy.
I met Dave five years or so ago on facebook, in one of those cross-pollinations that often occur when friends of a friend discover someone who intrigues them, or who share a common interest. We had a similar whacked sense of humor, and often traded quips, stories, and the like. Bantering like the goofy jokers we are. I admired his positive spirit, never saw a mean post or a criticism that felt derisive. That's my kind of guy! But, in all that time, we'd never personally met. I was struggling with the unceasing stress of running live theatres and taking care of my ailing mother, and he was every bit as busy too.
I didn't know, thought, that Dave Dowdy was busy helping heal and comfort the critically ill, and spending nearly all his time from the early AM to the darker reaches of the evening, bringing comfort to people in my kind of bad fix. Dave has a genuine gift for doing so. He is The Real Deal. The kind who possesses a genuine calling, like a minister who actually CAN call fire down from the heavens, not just refer you to some dry passage in the Bible. And he does this with an obvious heart full of compassion.
Dave was sent to me by another 'minister', my friend Jeanette Richardson, a force of nature in Bakersfield arts culture, who knew of my plight with cancer and who, out of love, sponsored my sessions with Dave. It is my opinion that these good souls saved my life and were largely responsible for turning the odds back in my favor. It is a gift I will never forget, and tears are welling up right now when I think of the depths from which they help me rise.
Dave has worked on my a number of times at critical junctures in my torturous cancer treatments. His technique (which he teaches through the nonprofit organization Healing Hands ~ Healing Hearts, where he serves as president and therapist) is described as 'Touch Therapy for the Critically, Chronically, and Terminally Ill.' There are many practitioners in the organization. It is NOT a commercial enterprise, but a mission-driven institution (please God, more of those).
I know first hand, this works. It changes the odds. It turned me around. And this post is out of grateful recognition of that fact. I've had plenty of massages; I'm used to deep tissue, limb-bending, hard pressure styles that, while very good, are unsuitable for the very ill, as I often was, as many of the elderly become who have such difficulty getting relief.
It is a simple and elegant technique; the clothes stay on, no oils or lotions needed. Dave practices it successfully on all ages.
If you or a loved one need this too, in all sincerity, call my Hero, my friend, my best resource for real comfort along this rocky road I've been dragged over, and see if David Dowdy or one of the other highly trained therapists can bring some of that comfort to your home. They come to you!
I want to stress again, this ain't no commercial, but a heartfelt word from a grateful friend to my friends who need this too. It helped save me, and my family is pretty thankful.
God Bless Mr. Dowdy"