It was good to see this week that the Scarborough Fire Department was coming to the aid of Joe Nelson.

Nelson, whose family has been in Scarborough and a part of the fire department for five generations, has been diagnosed with scleroderma and lung cancer. The fire department is holding a bottle drive this month and collecting donations to assist Nelson and his wife, Lorinda, who are not working because of his diseases.

Nelson’s story, which readers will find on Page 1, is important as a reminder of how vulnerable we all are and the role a community can play in supporting someone who has given so much of his time to it.

Nelson joined the fire department when he was just a sophomore in high school, but he had been a part of the department even before then. Capt. Ken Kennedy, who grew up with Nelson, used to run to the fire station with him and his brother Cleon Jr. every time a call came. They would put down the bay doors and wait for the trucks to return.

Nelson’s home on County Road is located next to the Engine No. 5 fire station. His father was a volunteer firefighter, and his mother was the first female firefighter in town. His great-grandfather donated the land for the Engine No. 5 station to the town.

Nelson hasn’t been an active member of the department for a long time. He was a volunteer with the department until 1990, when he became a dispatcher for the town. However, it’s clear members of the department have not forgotten his contribution. He was indoctrinated as a lifetime member of the department in 2000.

Now, as he struggles through the pain that accompany his treatment for lung cancer and scleroderma, a disease that hardens and tightens his skin and organs, members of the department who served with him are stopping by to check on him and his wife and see if there’s any way they can help. Kennedy stopped in on Nelson a few days after Christmas and found him in good spirits, despite all the adversity he faces. Fire Chief Michael Thurlow, who also grew up with Kennedy, organized the bottle drive and donation campaign to support the Nelsons.

The Nelsons are struggling to get by, with his medical expenses mounting to more than $200,000 since July. Much of that will be covered by insurance, but they are paying a monthly premium of $900 on the insurance policy he gets through Bill Dodge, where he worked as a mechanic after he left his dispatching job in 2000. That coverage will expire in April 2009. Lorinda Nelson has left her job at Chilton Furniture to take care of her husband, who can’t do many of the day-to-day tasks he could when he was healthy.

The Nelsons aren’t complaining, though. They are appreciative of the help they’ve gotten from firefighters, former coworkers at Bill Dodge and family, some of whom live nearby. The support the Nelsons have received shows that being a part of a community and contributing to it still mean something, and that sometimes, in the most difficult of circumstances, it can make all the difference.

Donations to Joe Nelson and his family can be made to: Scarborough Fire Department, 246 Route 1, Scarborough, ME 04074.

Brendan Moran, editor