A former soldier who bravely took on penny-pinching NHS bosses in his fight against terminal cancer has died, aged 37. Mark Bannister's wife has revealed how her husband was forced to LIE to doctors in order to get the life-prolonging treatment he had been denied due to a cruel postcode lottery. But after wasting six months of precious time trying to obtain the drug Avastin, Mark's cancer was too advanced for the medicine to have any effect. The dad-of-two succumbed to the brain tumour he had been battling for nine years at around 6am on Monday morning, with his wife Karen, 33, at his side. In tribute to her husband, who served in Northern Ireland and Bosnia during nine years in the army, grieving Karen said: "The Avastin didn't have any effect but we had to fight for six months in order to get it. "In all that time his tumour had been growing. In the end, he had to claim that he was living at another address in order to get the treatment. Who knows what would have happened if he had got the drug sooner - I truly believe it would have helped him.
A support worker was stunned to discover she was eight months pregnant after she was rushed to hospital with 'stomach cramps' .
A BLIND school-girl whose growth has been stunted by a rare medical condition is finding her feet again with the help of a specially made mini-cane .
A survivor of abuse has bravely waived her anonymity to tell how she was sexually assaulted from the age of nine - by her depraved grandad .
Marina Afonina, now 51, from Northampton, met Ioan Budea in 2006 .
When personal trainer, Victoria Spence dreamt of achieving a thigh gap, she didn't realise her obsession would leave her body gripped by anorexia .
Southern England, the south-west and west Wales have been warned to expect more wild weather, with heavy rain and high tides possibly leading to coastal flooding and travel disruption over the weekend .
T least three people have been killed and more than 100 injured, some seriously, in two explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon .
A brave praying mantis makes an unusual friend in an Oriental garden lizard .
SAILING over crystal clear waters, the Bajau people of Malaysia live their lives almost entirely at SEA .
HIDDEN in the middle of the Mojave Desert, a secret oasis awaits intrepid travellers .
THEIR gnarling teeth at the ready, these two baboons fight it out for the last piece of fruit .