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.
A young polar bear cub becomes the yogi bear as she stretches off for a morning aerobics session .
AN anorexic woman whose heart stopped after she starved herself to 3st has revealed that ‘dying’ for a minute helped shock her into recovery .
WITHOUT a care in the world, this little chimpanzee shows off her gymnastic skills as she swings around her enclosure .
Two people have been arrested after a man and woman were shot dead at a house in the Midlands in the early hours of this morning .
A BUMPER season of births has left zoo with three of the cutest exotic kittens you're likely to see .
RACING down the slopes in her tiny ski gear, this TWO-YEAR-OLD girl has already mastered the art of skiing .
A woman has told how her addiction to eating bath bubbles during her pregnancy was better than SEX .
PILES of trash provide a living for thousands in Nairobi, Kenya .
THIS RING of fire in the sky is the annular solar eclipse that wowed our cousins down-under .
PUCKERING up and enjoying some quality time, these are the most lovable monkeys on the planet .
Some will get up close and personal with Mother Nature’s deadliest animals to get the perfect shot, posing the question, what lengths will a photographer go to for that all important picture? But in this case, the question should be what depths .
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 .