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
VETERAN BEATEN IN REMEMBRANCE WEEKEND ATTACK
A PENSIONER was left with a fractured jaw after being beaten and robbed outside his home in Birmingham last weekend .
DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SNOWMAN?
Fetching a tiny carrot and a head-shaped snowball, a red squirrel builds the perfect snowman .
KILLED BY MAKE-UP - TRAGIC 18th CENTURY CELEB'S MIRROR AUCTIONED
She was the 18th century celebrity who made men faint in awe of her beauty by her very presence .
WORLD'S MOST IDYLLIC BOMB SITE BEAUTY
WELCOME to the Hidden Beach - the world's most idyllic BOMB SITE .
LAZY LEOPARD
Sprawled out on top of a log, this sleeping leopard takes a relaxing break from his daily routine .
8-YEAR-OLD GIRL ALLERGIC TO THE COLD
A young girl has been forced to stay indoors this winter because a rare allergy to the cold could kill her .
BABY BEARS COPY FIGHTING ADULTS
SITTING quietly at the edge of the lake, these two baby bears watch and learn as the adults hunt for fish .
TERRIFIED TEACHER TALKED MURDERER OUT OF STRANGLING HER
A teacher has told how she was attacked by a murderer on her way home from a night out but courageously managed to charm him out of strangling her .
BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPES CAPTURED ACROSS EUROPE
From the crisp, snow clad mountains to vivid bright blue rivers, these breath-taking photographs capture the incredible beauty of various landscapes across France and Italy .
SNOWHERE TO HIDE MY NUTS! RARE RED SQUIRRELS FROLIC IN THE SNOW
If you had to scrape the snow off your car this morning or slip-slide your way into work over icy pavements spare a thought for these little critters .
WOMAN LOSES 9ST AFTER JUNK FOOD ADDICTION LEFT HER £1.5K IN DEBT
An obese woman has lost 9st after an addiction to junk food left her £1 .
PENSIONER’S 100K MILK BOTTLE COLLECTION
FOR someone who hates milk, pensioner Steve Wheeler has got an udder-lot of it - nearly 20,000 bottles in fact .