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
WOMAN LOSES 10ST AFTER BLOWING £12K STUDENT LOAN ON FOOD

A woman who blew £12k of her student loan on junk food and booze has lost 10st after ditching her unhealthy habits .

SPECTACULAR SCENERY AT CHILEAN OBSERVATORIES

An Italian photographer travelled to Chile where he visited several star-gazing sites, home to some of the world's most advanced telescopes, located in the spectacular setting of the Atacama desert .

FISH AND BIRD TANGO

A trout manages to escape the jaws of a hungry cormorant - only to find itself back inside the bird's long beak .

INCREDIBLE PHOTOREALISTIC DRAWINGS CREATED WITH A BALLPOINT PEN

FROM a HOLLYWOOD actress to the face of an innocent child, these are incredible drawings with an unlikely twist .

WOMB STROKE SURVIVOR AMAZES DOCS BY TAKING FIRST STEPS

WOMB STROKE SURVIVOR AMAZES DOCS BY TAKING FIRST STEPS - A little girl who suffered a catastrophic stroke in the womb which would have killed an adult has stunned the medical world by learning to walk, talk and see .

SLAM DUNK DA FISH

THIS is the incredible moment a pelican throws a fish into the air and SLAM DUNKS it into its enormous throat sack .

THE ENCHANTING FOREST OF FIREFLIES

WITH the phosphorescent blobs and mesmerising patterns, these spectacular images may look like the hall marks of an enchanted forest but it is in fact the scene of thousands of dancing FIREFLIES .

GIRL BEATS ANOREXIA AFTER MUM PLANS FUNERAL

A teenager has beaten anorexia after becoming so ill that her mum planned her funeral .

PEEK-A-BOO FISH: BRIT SNAPPER MAKES RARE FIND

A Brit photographer has captured one of the world's most camera-shy species of fish - during a game of underwater peek-a-boo .

OUT OF THIS WORLD PLANET CAKES

Complete with core, mantle and crust, these incredible planet cakes are truly out of this world .

WOMAN LOSES 11ST AFTER £11K GASTRIC SLEEVE OP

A woman has shed half her body weight after undergoing a gastric sleeve op to shrink her stomach .

FEARLESS CHEF SLAMS TRIPADVISOR REVIEWS WITH HILARIOUS INSULTS

FOR most restaurateurs, the phrase ‘the customer is always right’ is gospel .