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
STUNNING UK LIGHTHOUSES

A photographer has travelled the length of the UK capturing lighthouses and their picturesque surroundings .

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 .

FROG FRIENDS

PERCHED on a branch, these two frogs hold hands as they look into the camera .

AURORA BOREALIS ILLUMINATES LAPLAND

From vivid greens to glowing pinks, the colours of the aurora borealis fill the night sky above a snow covered Lapland .

TEEN DANCER ROBBED OF TALENTS AFTER SCOLIOSIS SURGERY

A scoliosis sufferer was heartbroken to learn surgery would stop her dancing - but she battled through the pain to complete her GCSE dance exams and earn A* .

SERENE ICEBERGS

A SERENE turquoise glow glimmers from underneath these powerful icebergs .

CHRISTMAS SNOWMAN ATTRACTS CURIOUS SQUIRREL

Peering curiously into a basket hanging off the arms of a snowman, this little squirrel appears fascinated by the snowy figure .

HOP ON! FASHIONABLE FROG TRIES A SNAIL HAT ON FOR SIZE

FLAUNTING its new accessory, a fashionable green dumpy tree frog poses for the camera while wearing a SNAIL as a hat .

BIKINI SWIM WITH JELLYFISH

A BIKINI swim with jellyfish sounds like the most painful past-time on the planet .

MONKEY BUSINESS

GETTING behind the camera, this monkey practices his photography skills on his friends .

WOMAN SPENDS £10K TRANSFORMING INTO DISNEY PRINCESSES

Meet the real life princess who has spent £10k transforming herself into nine Disney beauties .

PEEKABOO SQUIRRELS EMERGE FROM THEIR NEST

SQUEEZING their furry faces through a hole in a tree, a trio of curious baby squirrels leave their nest for the first time to explore their surroundings .