CLEVELAND -- A little toy Yorkie is a lifeline for one local woman who's fighting a life-threatening illness.

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Missing Pooch

NewsChannel5's Debora Lee reported that Dorothy Stormer (pictured, below) is in another fight now -- to get her best friend back.

Jesse has been a member of Stormer's family for eight months, although it seems like he has been there forever. The dog is no bigger than a small rabbit and weighs about 5 pounds soaking wet.

"He's a sweetheart, he really is," she said. "He's a sweetheart, and I love him so much."

The pint-sized Yorkie was a gift from Stormer's daughter, Army Sgt. Yolanda Edwards-Gaines, who is on duty in Kuwait. Stormer has cancer, and Jesse is just what the doctor ordered.

"He was so lively and so into everything," Stormer said. "He just made a difference to me and the way I feel about my sickness."

But Jesse is gone now. He disappeared from Stormer's Laisy Avenue home a few days ago, and the whole family is devastated.

The last time anyone in the family saw the dog, he was in the back yard last Friday morning. The gate is usually closed, but on that morning it was open, and Jesse slipped through it.

"Jesse, Jesse, please come back," said Stormer's granddaughter, Ashley, in a poem she wrote.

Just as yellow ribbons will be up until Stormer's daughter returns from the Middle East, Jesse's bed will be empty, waiting for him to come home.

"I just want him back," Stormer said.

If you've seen Jesse, call 216-403-1230. The family is offering a $150 reward.