By Helen Borland / Staff

Her health problems started in the fourth grade.

Struggling to keep her young and precious life, she finally succumbed to leukemia and cancer, a few days before what would have been her sixteenth birthday.

Merrill King, from Roswell, started having difficulty breathing in 2004. It got so bad that when the family was on vacation in Clearwater, Florida, her parents took her to the hospital. Tests there revealed she had leukemia with a 50-50 chance of survival.

The family was in a state of shock, but did everything they could to try to save their daughter's life, including a bone marrow transplant, for which her father was the donor.

During the time Merrill was ill, life turned upside down for the King family, which includes Devon, Merrill's older sister, and Reeve, her younger brother. Money became tight when Pat King, Merrill's father, lost his IT job.

It was difficult to have a family life with any structure because Merrill's mom and dad alternated between spending time at the hospital and coming home to eat and sleep. One compassionate friend made a decision about 18 months ago to help as much as he could. Most days Reeve rides the bus to and from Crabapple Middle School and shares a bedroom with his best bud. 

A THOUSAND POINTS OF LIGHT SHINE BRIGHT

This neighbor is not the only member of the community to show compassion and love to the King family. Members from their church and the community organized themselves so that someone brought a fresh, hot meal to the Kings every night for the past two years. Other anonymous donors put a new roof on their house, bought a new washer and dryer, a vacuum cleaner, a dishwasher, and did most of the necessary yard work. This past Christmas, a fully decorated tree with thousands of dollars worth of gift cards was delivered to the King household. Another community member bought 300 poinsettias and sold them at school events to raise money for the King family.

The Fulton County school system also went out of their way to provide support to the Kings. Someone took it upon themselves to deliver homework to the house when necessary. Reeve and Devon were allowed time to complete their homework after spending the day at the hospital with their sister. There were collection containers at schools to take monetary donations for the King family. Publix also helped collect money for the Kings.

RHS SHOWERS MERILL IN LOVE

Merrill had many friends, and the students at Roswell High School supported Merrill and her family in every way they could think of. Last August the cross-country team ran all night with for a "Miles for Merrill" fundraiser. They raised thousands of dollars for Merrill and her two favorite charities; Camp Sunshine, which provides recreational, educational, and support programs for children with cancer and their families, and the Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research. Friends from school wrote Bible passages on note cards and brought them to the hospital. Recently, Salon 24 donated the time of three stylists to shave the heads of the cross country team to show their love and support.

Over 500 people showed up for a mass at St. Peter's Chanel Catholic Church that was held on Monday, just one hour after Merrill died at 6 pm. The whole school wore blue on Tuesday because it was her favorite color and held a candle ceremony at the Square in Roswell on Tuesday night.

The Kings have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and concern, compassion and friendship from members of the community. According to Reeve, "the whole entire town helped out." King said there were so many people who helped in so many ways he didn't want to single out any one person or group because they all helped in one way or another and he appreciates everyone's efforts.

The King family wants to thank everyone for all the kindnesses that have been shown. As Kevin Pappas, a neighbor and friend said, "If everybody could model their day-to-day life after the people in this community, the world would definitely be a better place."

Merrill's funeral was held Saturday at noon at St. Peter's Chanel Catholic Church.

Donations in Merrill King's memory can be made to the Rally Foundation and Camp Sunshine.