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
BABY-FACED BURGLAR NABBED BY JAFFA CAKE
A BABY-faced burglar is starting a seven year stretch in custody after being nabbed by a Jaffa Cake .
KITTEN IN WHEEL
A panic stricken kitten that got her head stuck in a car tyre has been freed by quick thinking RSPCA staff .
STORM CHASER PHOTOGRAPHS STUNNING EXTREME WEATHER
These photographs of extreme weather capture storms furiously rolling across the sky above America .
CHINESE FISHERMEN FISHING WITH RARE TECHNIQUE
SAILING peacefully across a river in the early morning light, a fisherman in China keeps a 1000 year old tradition alive .
HITCHHIKING BIRDS
LINED up one by one on a deer’s back, these little birds give their wings a break as they catch a ride across London .
FOUR-YEAR-OLD TWIN BOY BELIEVES HE'S A GIRL
A mum from Gloucestershire has accepted her four-year-old twin son’s decision to live full time as a girl - and is now letting him wear a skirt to school .
WORLD'S MOST IDYLLIC BOMB SITE BEAUTY
WELCOME to the Hidden Beach - the world's most idyllic BOMB SITE .
ASTOUNDING ASTRONOMICAL IMAGES TAKEN IN GARDEN
AN ARRAY of colours, from pinks to blues and oranges, fill the night sky to create an amazing collection of interstellar patterns .
GATEWAY TO THE UNDERWORLD
SPURTING water 20ft into the air, this is one well you wouldn't want to dip your bucket into .
BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS BROUGHT TO LIFE
BREATHING life back into old photographs, these black and white images are transformed by colour .
AN ABANDONED HOUSE IN THE WOODS
INTIMATELY showcasing personal artefacts from a family's life, this abandoned bungalow has been left to rot for almost a decade .