Building stuff is very time consuming and fun. The game is really awesome with a good group of people on a server. Best fun I've had playing with people online in a long while.
Actually there really is a disease that makes you age faster than normal, but it's a lot worse than what she's going through. Although a family member went through something that reminds me of this.
I've played it through once. It's a good game, one of the last good Sonic titles in my opinion. My favorite though would have to be Sonic 3 and Knuckles though.:)