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
GLACIER ICE CLIMBING

COURAGEOUS climbers descend 400 metres as they manoeuvre their way through thick walls of ice .

CHEEKY MONKEY COOLS OFF IN APRIL SHOWERS

This cheeky chappie is getting into all kinds of monkey business as he enjoys cooling off on a scorching hot day .

IRISH WOMAN FIRST ADULT IN WORLD TO GET BIONIC SPINE

AN Irish woman has become the first adult in the world to receive a revolutionary REMOTE CONTROLLED 'ROBO SPINE', which uses magnets to combat the effects of scoliosis .

OSCAR PISTORIUS MURDER TRIAL

Oscar Pistorius entered a courtroom Monday for the start of his murder trial, walking past the victim's mother who says she came to court so she can ‘really look him in the eyes .

PLAYFUL ELEPHANTS MAKE A SPLASH

WIDE EYED with a huge smile across her face, this little elephant is a picture of happiness .

TWIT-TWOO

Puckering up for a kiss, an affectionate pair of owls share a smooch for Valentine's Day .

PRISON HOTEL

FOR most people, spending a night locked up in a cell would be undesirable .

BOY, 6, ALMOST BLIND AFTER ONE-IN-MILLION ALLERGIC REACTION

A six-year-old boy has been left almost blind after a one-in-a-million allergic reaction to antibiotics .

THE END OF THE WORLD CINEMA

SITTING in the middle of a vast desert, an abandoned cinema is still waiting for its first movie to be screened .

SHARK WHISPERER BALANCES SHARK IN HIS HAND

Pic By Graham Gibson/ HotSpot Media - SHARK HYPNOTIST BALANCES SHARK IN PALM OF HIS HAND- In Pic - Diver Tom and Caribbean reef sharks in the Bahamas- A SHARK hypnotist balances these predators in the palm of his hand by sending them to sleep with a gentle nose rub .

FRIENDS REUNITED

IT'S the iconic TV show that influenced a whole generation in the 1990s .

TOO FAT FOR HUGS BUT NOW I'VE LOST 9 STONE

Aged 27, I was swept off my feet by my gorgeous husband, Lee, now 42 .