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
AIR OF THE DOG: HILARIOUS FLYING POOCHES
FLYING through the air, these delighted pooches pull their best poses mid-flight .
BEATEN TO A PULP FOR MY TRANS-FORMATION, BUT I WON’T LET THE BULLIES GET ME DOWN
Ashlee, 20, has always known that she was supposed to be a girl .
HIDDEN HIMALAYAN FESTIVAL
A quiet Himalayan mountain village springs to life for a colourful Buddhist festival designed to expel evil spirits and bring happiness .
UK'S STRONGEST SCHOOLGIRL
THE UK’S STRONGEST SCHOOLGIRL attributes her success to the bendy-body condition that once left her body wracked in pain .
AMAZING THUNDERSTORM LIGHTS UP THE SARDINIAN COAST
POWERFUL bolts of lightning illuminate the night sky in an incredible autumn storm over the Sardinian coastline .
AMAZING PEN ART
FROM THE world famous Girl with a Pearl Earring painting to a jaguar in the grass, these incredible drawings are created from coloured ballpoint pens .
NAKED SLACKLINERS TACKLE NEW CHALLENGES
BALANCING 30 metres above ground, these slackliners take the expression of living dangerously one step further, by tightrope walking NAKED .
BRIT DESIGNER PUTS INK-REDIBLE PEN ON MARKET FOR £27K
A British jewellery designer with a passion for London's iconic Gherkin has created a pen with an INK-REDIBLE price tag of £27,500 .
BULLIES MADE MY 10 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER ANOREXIC
A mum has warned of the dangers of child eating disorders, after her 10-year-old daughter developed anorexia when school bullies branded her ‘FAT’ .
WOMAN LOSES 8ST AFTER ENERGY DRINK HABIT NEARLY BLINDS HER
A diabetic who was addicted to energy drinks has lost 8st after doctors warned her habit was blinding her .
CHEETAH HUNT
Hot on the heels of a little rabbit, this cheetah is on a mission to catch his prey .
WORLD'S MOST IDYLLIC BOMB SITE BEAUTY
WELCOME to the Hidden Beach - the world's most idyllic BOMB SITE .