Twice a week, Darcie Reynolds goes to Mary Holz for a relaxing head, neck, and shoulder massage.
But before you begin to think that Reynolds is pampered, you should know one thing.
"I was diagnosed in May with triple negative breast cancer. It was stage 1, grade 3," said Reynolds.
In other words, the pain has far outweighed the pleasure recently.
"The first four treatments were pretty rough," she recalled.
Reynolds describes the pain of chemotherapy as 100 on a scale of 1-10.
It was taking a toll on her body and mind. So one day, Holz suggested Reynolds come in for one of her specialties -- a cranium release treatment.
"One doctor put it this way, if you balance everything above the ears, everything below the ears will fall into place," said Holz.
Since she started seeing Holz, Reynolds said she has been able to go back to work and feel somewhat healthy again.
And for this invaluable service, Holz has never charged Reynolds a dime.
"When you've got a friend in need, you do what you can. So I've been treating her and I just want to see her get better," said Holz.
So Reynolds emailed CBS 5 and asked to return the favor with her own touching gesture -- a Pay It Forward surprise.
With our cameras rolling, Reynolds gave Holz the $500 reward and brought Holz to tears.
Holz said her goal is put her patients back in balance. For the first time, one of her patients just knocked Holz off hers.
Copyright KPHO 2011. All rights reserved.
