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.
AN ITALIAN mechanic has created the world’s most ferocious mini-car .
Like a scene from a fairytale, THOUSANDS of fireflies create an enchanting glow as they dance in a forest .
FOR someone who hates milk, pensioner Steve Wheeler has got an udder-lot of it - nearly 20,000 bottles in fact .
HOPPING onto the scales, these adorable baby Humboldt penguins are ready for their first weigh-in .
Most women would jump at the chance to put on some lipstick, sling on a pair of heels and head out for a romantic meal with their other half .
Fishermen in Myanmar have perfected an unusual fishing technique by carefully balancing on one leg .
LEAPING through the air this determined little mouse is on a mission for food .
A TEN-THOUSAND square foot wide Avatar-style grove is such a beauty it will leave you feeling VINE .
COULD this £5,000 auction of Paul McCartney’s Liverpool front door be the most bizarre celebrity sale yet? The door, which looks-like it may have been knocked – and possibly kicked – very hard during its past, was used by members of Britain’s most famous band to visit lead-singer Paul McCartney when he lived at the address from 1955 to 1964 .
A woman has told how she saved the life of her own rapist after he overdosed on pills shortly after attacking her .
It's incredible to think anyone could live in such horrendous squalor - yet two men have been prosecuted for keeping their homes in such revolting conditions that it was no longer fit for their animals .