The Art of Survival Irene Pinole's caregiver, Daisy Reyes, helps her bathe at the group home. Long gone are the institution style bathing days of being hosed down in a group for Pinole, who has Down Syndrome. Now she enjoys warm evening showers with some help. Statistically speaking, Irene should have been dead by the age of 10. Against the longest of odds for a child with Down syndrome in her era, Irene grew up and grew old. Now she is 76, ranking her among the oldest Down survivors on record.

Anne Chadwick Williams, Sacramento Bee