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
DAREDEVIL DINING: THE 160FT HIGH RESTAURANT

Suspended FIFTY metres in the air, this is the last place that you would expect to find a fine dining experience .

POLAR BEAR PLAY

WITH SNOW COVERING the ground around them, these two polar bears play fight .

STAR-TI-LING: 40,000 STARLINGS MIMIC HITCHCOCK'S THE BIRDS

STAR-TI-LING: 40,000 STARLINGS MIMIC HITCHCOCK'S THE BIRDS- This could be the fearsome scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds as a flock of 40,000 starlings bask in the heat of a wonderful British sunset .

GOING BALLISTIC - 15 FOOT RED BALL ARTIST

This is the crazy art project that is going ballistic - placing a huge squishy 15ft red ball into tight spaces .

TWIT-TWOO

Puckering up for a kiss, an affectionate pair of owls share a smooch for Valentine's Day .

BULLIES CRUELLY CALLED ME “PIG NOSE” AND “NO NOSE” - NOW I’VE EMBRACED MY FACIAL DIFFERENCE AND FEEL BEAUTIFUL

A woman has revealed how cruel bullies taunted her daily at school, calling her names like 'pig nose' and 'no nose' .

SISTERS BOTH HAVE 1 IN 3.5M DISEASE THAT IS TURNING THEM TO CRYSTAL

Meet the sisters who have both been diagnosed with a one in 3 .

INTIMATE PORTRAITS OF AFRICAN TRIBES

A German photographer travelled around Africa where he met and photographed members of tribes in a series of intimate portraits .

LETHAL BIRTHMARK NEARLY SUFFOCATES GIRL

HOTSPOT MEDIA - LETHAL BIRTHMARK NEARLY SUFFOCATES GIRL: Zoe Mitchell when she was two-weeks-old .

ICELAND'S 360 DEGREE VIEW WATERFALL

THESE BREATH-TAKING photographs show the natural beauty of Iceland's most famous waterfall .

“HOTDOG” EUROPES BIGGEST CHILLI DOG IS NO WIENER AT 13,000 CALORIES

A restaurant famed for creating the 3lb cheeseburger has unveiled its latest culinary challenge – the largest chilli cheese hotdog in Europe .