Look, I'm no 13 coddler. I feel like TPTB made her bisexual because Fox got such a shitty rating for GLBT visibility. It means nothing for her character except a few throwaway lines about dating ladies. So far, she seems like a less interesting version of Cameron, and as a H/W shipper, I think it's pretty evident how I feel about Cameron.
That being said, Huntington's is a pretty big deal. If she's having trouble dealing, that is entirely realistic. Firstly, there's no way to know how long she has. It's usually based on when your parent who also had Huntington's began showing symptoms, so if her parent had it early, that means she probably will too. She might not make it through her thirties for all we know. If that were me, I'd be goddamned terrified.
Huntington's is an incredibly shitty way to go. You lose muscle control, making it difficult to swallow on your own, let alone walk. Cognitive ability and memory are also severely affected. One thing we do know about 13 is that she's a feminist, and that she prides herself on being independent. Huntington's would basically be the slow, terrible loss of everything she takes pride in herself for, leading to a messy death by pneumonia, heart failure, or worse. There's a reason that Huntington's patients have a high rate of suicide.
We don't know if 13 ever wanted to have children. If she did though, it would be a 50/50 chance that her kids would suffer the same way she inevitably will. For this reason, people who know they are Huntington's positive are often advised not to have children. Maybe she wanted to have a family some day. This will also affect her approach to romantic relationships, because if she pursues a relationship, she knows that she will die a horrible, slow, expensive death. Not only will her significant other have to watch her waste away, but who's going to pay the hospital bills when she can't even feed herself or go to the bathroom without help?
So... That's basically why it's a big deal. I hope they develop more how knowing about this will affect her life.
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That being said, Huntington's is a pretty big deal. If she's having trouble dealing, that is entirely realistic. Firstly, there's no way to know how long she has. It's usually based on when your parent who also had Huntington's began showing symptoms, so if her parent had it early, that means she probably will too. She might not make it through her thirties for all we know. If that were me, I'd be goddamned terrified.
Huntington's is an incredibly shitty way to go. You lose muscle control, making it difficult to swallow on your own, let alone walk. Cognitive ability and memory are also severely affected. One thing we do know about 13 is that she's a feminist, and that she prides herself on being independent. Huntington's would basically be the slow, terrible loss of everything she takes pride in herself for, leading to a messy death by pneumonia, heart failure, or worse. There's a reason that Huntington's patients have a high rate of suicide.
We don't know if 13 ever wanted to have children. If she did though, it would be a 50/50 chance that her kids would suffer the same way she inevitably will. For this reason, people who know they are Huntington's positive are often advised not to have children. Maybe she wanted to have a family some day. This will also affect her approach to romantic relationships, because if she pursues a relationship, she knows that she will die a horrible, slow, expensive death. Not only will her significant other have to watch her waste away, but who's going to pay the hospital bills when she can't even feed herself or go to the bathroom without help?
So... That's basically why it's a big deal. I hope they develop more how knowing about this will affect her life.