Comments about ‘She's my sister: Local author describes 'adventures' with Irene’

what an incredible woman not because she takes care of Irene but truly loves her and she is a part of her life. Many would not choose that direction. That is the purest form of love a woman, a sister, wife and grandmother could offer to her sister. She must have patience of Job. What a great teacher she must be and still be able to smile and share. I have great admiration for her and her tenacity.

This is a heartwarming story of patience and life long service. I think its great how much Mrs Dougan helps her sister (not to mention their parents through the earlier years). We would all do so well to follow their example. I seriously wonder what I would do if I were in the same position.

However, the biggest key here is "resources". Without the ability to pay for caregivers to help soften the load, this is a 100% totally different story. As Mrs Dougan says in the article, they are indeed fortunate to be in the position to pay for caregivers. 99.9% of people in this world are not in the same position. And without the "break" the caregivers provide, it becomes very difficult to say the least.

What a wonderful, heart-warming story. Thank you!

Blessed are the caregivers.

Irene is blessed to have such a wonderful sister (as I'm sure her sister feels bless in caring for her).

It is unfortunate, however, that the Utah legislature is considering significant cuts to the services that people like Irene receive, but many of whom don't have a wonderful family member like Irene's sister as a safety net to care for them. For many of them the story could soon become very tragic.

What a great article! I sure hope too that the Legislature doesn't cut services that her sister needs. If you don't have a lot of family to help you can really have problems.

And I also applaud the Mormons for helping Irene out. I hope some of the hate mongering homosexuals read this and realize that this is the the heart of Christianity, considering they aren't Mormon.

I hope after reading this article, some other people step up to help others who are in need who may not be of their religion but just in need of some basic help sometime.

Please----more articles like this. This is why I prefer your paper to the Trib although I'm not Mormon.

Many years ago I was a part of a girl scout troop. Our leader's name was Mrs Harris. She had a handicapped daughter with sparkly brown eyes named Irene. We went to their home each week and Irene was part of our group. Irene was a blessing for each one of us "normal" girls. Mrs Harris was a gracious, lovely woman and I have never forgotten them. Irene had a beautiful older sister named Terrell with large, gorgeous brown eyes who I never spoke to, but I admired. I was most happy to see Irene and Terrell in the Deseret News today and I am definately going to buy this book. However, I very much want to have my book signed by Irene. She still looks very much the same as she did as a child. Those were happy times for us in the girl scout troop and I hope for Irene as well. Irene taught me important things in my early years and I am grateful for her and her lovely mother. I was so happy to see her sweet face and see that she is doing well. It made me cry. Thank you, Irene!