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Last July, Merrick Fairchild was a happy 8-year-old, but then her gums puffed up and hurt. They felt like they were infected. So her mother, Renn, took Merrick to the dentist.

“It was what we thought was an abscessed tooth,” Renn recalled during an interview last week.

But the dentist immediately determined it was not a problem with Merrick’s teeth. It was more serious than that. The next day she went to a pediatrician and then, an oncologist.

The bubbly young girl had stage four Burkitt lymphoma, an aggressive, but treatable form of cancer of the B cells. Merrick went to the dentist on a Wednesday. By Friday she was admitted to Children’s Hospital in Seattle and by Saturday, she started chemotherapy.

Burkitt grows quickly and by the time Merrick started her treatment, her jaw had swollen and was visibly disfigured, Renn explained. The cancer was advancing quickly. Merrick already had patches on her liver and her bone marrow was 80 percent compromised.

Merrick underwent several rounds of treatment. Summer vacation was ruined and school started without her. Still, Heidi Freeman’s third grade class kept in touch. They talked on Facetime every day, even when Merrick was undergoing treatment. They also wrote Merrick letters and sent her school work so she could keep up.

A big monkey, who they nick-named “Monkey Merrick” was put in Merrick’s chair in her class, to remind students that she would come back.

“The school was great,” Renn said. “They were very accommodating.”

Merrick responded better than most to treatment. While some of the drugs made her sick, she recovered in about five days, while most youngsters take a month, Renn said.

Renn, who is a deputy Flathead County attorney and her parents, Chris and Joe Anders took turns being with Merrick during treatment.

Merrick’s last treatment was at Christmas, so they celebrated Christmas on Saturday, at home.

Today Merrick is in full remission.

Her advice to young people who get cancer?

“Try not to puke,” she said with a big grin.

She had a feeding tube put in her stomach six times. It was no fun.

Merrick lost all of her hair after treatment, though her eyebrows and eyelashes and the hair on her head is slowly coming back.

For now, she wears a white hat which sums up the experience perfectly.

“Stupid cancer,” it says.