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
ABANDONED FARM HOUSE LEFT TO ROT
With a dust covered coat hung from a wardrobe door and a pair of glasses left on a shelf, a remote farmhouse lies abandoned in the Welsh countryside .
HILARIOUS PRANK ON URBAN EXPLORERS
A terrifying prankster has given unsuspecting urban explorers the fright of their lives .
BLIND MAN BEATEN WITH BRICK FOR SAYING HELLO
A BLIND man was battered with a brick in a sickening attack by two thugs .
UNLIKELY PLAYMATES: BRAVE CHICKS PLAY WITH A PYTHON
A pair of chicks bravely decided to befriend a python, despite being the snake's favourite choice of food .
SUPER FROG - FLYING FROGS TAKE OFF
LIKE SUPERMAN carrying a slimy Lois Lane through the air this frog is treating its mate to a flying lesson .
TINY CHRISTMAS ANGEL, SIX, IS SIZE OF TWO YEAR OLD
Pint- size Maci Winters only has one wish this Christmas - to be as tall as the other boys and girls on the school playground .
LIFE-LIKE PENCIL DRAWINGS
AT first glance these images could easily be mistaken for photographs, but they are in-fact real life drawings created using nothing but coloured pencils .
AVATAR-STYLE WISTERIAS WILL LEAVE YOU FEELING TREE-UMPHANT
A TEN-THOUSAND square foot wide Avatar-style grove is such a beauty it will leave you feeling VINE .
MESMERISING FIELD PATTERNS
FULL OF STUNNING colours and swirling shapes, the furrows on these fields create a mix of mesmerising patterns .
POLAR BEAR STRETCHES
Raising his arms above his head and lying flat on his back, a polar bear stretches as he sprawls out across the ice .
GRAND PRIX-INSPIRED ESPRESSO MACHINE
This may look like a monster car engine that will leave petrol heads in a spin, but it is in fact a rather snazzy looking COFFEE MACHINE .
BRITISH BEACH-LIFE SPLIT SHOTS
UNDERWATER and above-water seaside shots show the best of British beach-life .