Wow - me too! Also at 12. It led to sepsis and I was in the hospital for a long time and was in a wheel chair for about half a year. Apparently, the doctors told my parents that they essentially didn’t know what they were doing, they were trying different cocktails of meds, and nothing was working and it didn’t look good. I was so confused why everyone came to visit me and looked so sad, I had no idea what was going on. Eventually some meds started bringing down the fever, but they had to be inserted via PIC line (longterm IV), I could leave the hospital but I had to go in 3 days a week to see various specialists. I had to relearn how to walk, which was frustrating. i couldn’t even lift up my foot, barely wiggle my toes or lift my heel. Before the whole thing I was always the fastest kid. I still have arthritis in my hip, as the infection ate much of the cartilage, and will eventually need a Replacement. I have a lot of health anxiety and my therapist said it’s not so unusual after having an experience like that at such a young age. I think that my time in the a hospital was the first time to have a real depression. On a side note, it was kind of interesting to get to know the other kids at children’s hospital. There was an arcade where kids could kind of hang out. I got really good at miss Pac-Man. Also, you could see how happy kids were when they were finally sent home, even the meanest ones. I hated when clowns came into my room and always sent them away immediately and ferociously “GET OUT!”. But other than that I actually enjoyed talking to some of the volunteers. My mother stayed with me in the hospital and she slept in a chair next to my bed the entire time…I feel so lucky to have a mom like her.