Derek Wilson of Woolwich turned 2 on Feb. 25. Nearly four months earlier, his parents, Cyrus and Nicole Wilson, learned that the boy who crawled early, walked early and loves to climb, has leukemia.

Doctors consider it a high-risk case because the first 28 days of treatment did not lead to remission, Nicole Wilson, a 2003 Wiscasset High School graduate, said.

Her son’s treatment will continue for at least three years, with a good outcome expected, Wilson said.

Besides fighting the leukemia and helping her son through the nausea his chemotherapy brings on, she said one of the hardest things for her is not being able to explain to him why he is undergoing treatment.

He's too young to understand, she said. But the little boy has learned that it is going to hurt when the surgically implanted port in his chest is used to give him the chemotherapy. He cries when he sees the nurse who inserts the needle into the port for his treatment, his mother said.

The 10 days his son was hospitalized shortly after his diagnosis seemed like forever, Cyrus Wilson said. “(The diagnosis) still seems surreal. It just doesn’t seem like something that would happen,” he said.

Their son has been eating little; infant formula masked with milk is helping meet his nutritional needs. His immune system is too weak for him to return to daycare and risk exposure to viruses. That will probably be the case for a while, his mother said.

The couple have taken turns staying home with the toddler, the youngest of their four children. Nicole Wilson took a month off her job at Exact Dispensing in Newcastle; and Cyrus Wilson, a roofing and general contractor who works mostly in the Boothbay area, is currently taking time off.

Family, friends and even strangers have been stepping up to help the family make ends meet. In East Boothbay at Washburn & Doughty, where Nicole Wilson’s father Scott Leighton works, a collection recently raised more than $800, Nicole Wilson said. And Cyrus Wilson said his son, who loves big trucks, has stood on his toy box to watch from a bedroom window as family friend Josh Bailey of Wiscasset has plowed the Wilsons’ driveway all winter for free.

Wiscasset residents Paul Foley and Mike Gillespie put on an ice fishing derby, “Fire and Ice,” at Gardiner Pond in Wiscasset, raising about $500 toward the family’s expenses, Foley said. Cindy Collamore of Wiscasset saw a Facebook post of Foley’s about Derek Wilson. She has gotten a raffle underway with prizes from several donors. For more information, contact Collamore at 207-882-9256.

Collamore, who recently lost her husband to cancer, said that when she learned about Derek Wilson’s illness, she wanted to do all she could to help the family. “For a child that young to have (cancer), broke my heart.”

Courtney Poland of Woolwich started the Derek Strong Fund at www.gofundme.com/he2kss. It has raised about $1,700 so far, Poland said.

The Derek Wilson Fund has also been established at First Federal Savings in Wiscasset.

And on Tuesday, March 17, attendees at a St. Patrick’s Day celebration at St. Patrick’s Church in Newcastle will be able to make a donation to help the Wilson family and then get to touch a Blarney stone, Foley said. The event starts at 6 p.m. at the church at 380 Academy Hill Road, Foley said. He can be reached at 207 522-4501 for ticket information.

“People have been great,” Cyrus Wilson said about all the community support. “It’s been really nice to see.”

Nicole Wilson said the generosity that people have been showing with their time and donations has amazed her.

“Honestly, it’s really been overwhelming, in a good way,” she said. “And it makes us as a family feel like we need to be as helpful to people in their time of need.”