My partner was diagnosed with leukemia this summer, starting a journey of chemotherapy and immunotherapy. When his immune system crashed two weeks after the chemo, he spent nine days in the hospital receiving intravenous antibiotics to keep him alive.

It was a harrowing summer through a lot of unknowns. So many people helped us through this. At the hospital, there were doctors, registered nurses, certified nursing assistants and patient support, lab techs, cooks and housekeepers.

Some were from Eastern Europe, others from Somalia, South America, the Philippines, India and China. Every one of them was professional and caring, dedicated to bringing my partner back to health, and he was only one of many patients they cared for. My thanks to them all — we could never have done this alone.

The American Dream is the opportunity to work together across class, culture and home of origin so that everyone in this country can experience justice, choice and freedom. Too often, the dream doesn’t live up to the ideal — just visit a Native American reservation or witness the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow segregation.

The Constitution gives we, the people, the power to create a more perfect union. There is always more work to do to live up to that promise. Let that include a fair and just immigration system that treats people as we hope our grandparents and great-grandparents were treated when they arrived at Ellis Island.

Ellen Gibson, South Paris