CANCER DRUG FIGHT DAD DIES, EVEN AFTER LYING TO GET TREATMENT
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.
Other great stories
FIGHTING BABOONS
THEIR gnarling teeth at the ready, these two baboons fight it out for the last piece of fruit .
SMILING SHARKS
A lively lemon shark grins into the camera and showcases his impressive teeth .
DOG SO CLOSE TO DEATH AFTER SWALLOWING NEEDLE
A dog was SOW close to death after she dangerously swallowed a two-inch NEEDLE-Cute Shih Tzu Daisy could have pierced her intestines after eating the long needle and thread after finding it on the carpet .
WOMAN SPENDS £20K A YEAR ON 30 PET PUGS
Meet the dog-loving woman who spends £20k a year looking after her 30 pet PUGS .
TUNNELS OF WAVES
With blue waves tumbling over them, these surfers glide underneath a tunnel of water .
ABANDONED CALIFORNIAN GOLD RUSH TOWN
A once bustling gold rush town in Mono County, California now stands completed deserted .
HUBBY DRUGGED THEN RAPED ME FROM AGED 15 AND I GOT JUSTICE 30 YEARS LATER
Tina O’Brien, 54, from East Midlands, met Frederick Allchorne, now 62, when she was 15 .
SNOOZING SEAL PUP
RESTING his weary head on his flipper, this little seal pup takes a much needed nap after an afternoon of strenuous yoga .
TEEN GIRL TRUCKER YOUNGEST IN UK
Blonde teen Jess Stubbs has certainly got girl power - as Britain’s youngest TRUCKER .
FISH AND BIRD TANGO
A trout manages to escape the jaws of a hungry cormorant - only to find itself back inside the bird's long beak .
TAXIDERMY ART BOOK
A KITTEN'S teaparty and rat's playing dominoes are the bizarre creations by one of Britain's great eccentrics pictured in an incredible new book .
SEXY WEIGHTLIFTER LOSES 12ST AFTER SWAPPING BISCUITS FOR BICEPS
A weightlifter has lost a whopping 12st after swapping biscuits for biceps .