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
INTIMATE PORTRAITS OF HINDU HOLY MEN

COVERING themselves in ash and face paint, these are the holy men who live their lives away from everyday society .

BUG LOOKS JUST LIKE SATAN

This longhorn beetle demon-strates a dark side as it looks just like the devil .

BACK TO BASICS HOTEL

CAMPED out in the middle of a forest, these unusual hut hotels take you back to basics .

CUTEST PICTURES OF PUPPIES AND BABY EVER

HEART-MELTING shots of a French bulldog and a ten-month-old French baby could be the cutest you’re likely to see .

FALSE KILLER WHALE BEAMS AS HE CATCHES HIS LUNCH

Say cheese! This cheeky chappy isn’t in the mood to live up to his scary reputation as he is pictured here cracking a killer smile as he goes about his daily business .

CAT RIPS OFF OWN EARS DUE TO UNTREATED CANCER

Animal rescue volunteers have told how a cat riddled with cancer was forced to ripped off its own ears after it was abandoned by its owners .

BETRAYED BY CANCER CON WOMAN!

Recovering from a rare form of breast cancer, Deborah Barnett, 43, of Stoke-on-Trent, thought she'd made it through the worst, but she was betrayed by former colleague Sandra Ramsay, of Mow Cop Road, Mow Cop, Stoke-on-Trent .

TRANS WOMAN'S £100K TRANSFORMATION FUNDED BY ONLINE FANS

A transgender woman has revealed how she was able to fund her transformation using £100K gifted to her by online admirers .

BABY WHALE AND MOTHER LAP UP TOURIST ATTENTION

A grey whale and her calf greet an audience of awestruck admirers on the Pacific coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico .

INCREDIBLE FOG CREATES GLOWING LANDSCAPES OVER TAIWAN

A blanket of fog is lit up by the colourful glowing lights of the city below .

POLE-DANCING MUM CELEBRATES PREGNANCIES WITH WACKY STUNTS

A mum has celebrated each of her four pregnancies with a host of wacky stunts - including acrobatics, aerial contortion, pole-dancing and risque photo shoots .

FORGETFUL PARENT’S LIVING TIMEKEEPER

FOR TWO memory-impaired parents their new-born baby Cian is a living timekeeper .