SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) -
A disabled Aurelia, Iowa, man will be back in court, fighting a city ordinance that kept him from his service dog.
Meet Jim Sak. He's a retired Chicago cop and Vietnam vet, who suffered a stroke in 2008. It left him with limited use of his right side.
"If Jim is walking his right leg has a tendency to, the ankle, flip in," said Jim's wife, Peggy Leifer.
Jim can fall and hurt himself. So he had his dog, a pit bull mix named Snickers, trained to be a certified service animal.
Snickers helps Jim with balance, mobility and finds help if needed.
"He's a part of me. This right side don't work. But he does," said Jim.
In November, the couple moved to Aurelia to be closer to Peggy's ailing mother, unaware a pit bull ordinance was in effect.
When the city found out Snickers was its newest resident, he was banned from town.
"He's our kid, he works his tail off for us," said Jim
Snickers was placed in a kennel miles away, leaving Jim struggling alone at home.
"I'm unable to go off and leave Jim alone, because if he does fall, I'll come home and find him on the floor," said Peggy.
The family went to court to get their dog back, filing a lawsuit against the city. They claimed Snickers is cleared by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Late December, a federal judge in Sioux City agreed, allowing Snickers home until a permanent agreement could be made with the city. It was a happy day for Jim.
"This is the greatest day of my life," said Jim with Snickers licking his face.
Since then, the story has made national headlines. But as the views climbed, Jim's health slipped.
He knew something was wrong when Snickers wouldn't stop licking the right side of his neck.
"I had to keep pushing him away, so I started feeling over there and I thought hmm," he said.
There was a cancerous tumor in Jim's throat. For months now, he's been taking radiation and chemo treatments.
"The worst part of the treatment, not having my dog here," he said.
To add to his ails, Thursday Sak's attorneys announced Aurelia wasn't backing down on the ordinance.
"We'd hoped that they'd settle and that things would just resolve this out of court, and things would settle and life would return to normal," said Kim Wolf with the Animal Farm Foundation and a spokesperson for the family.
Instead, they'll head back to federal court July of 2013.
Jim's already feeling the stress.
"I don't know why… I don't know why they're still coming after me," said Sak.
Jim's prognosis? Doctors say the survival rate is 70 percent. He says after all the treatment the tumor has shrunk dramatically.
We contacted the city Aurelia today for comment on the pending case. They declined.
