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
THE WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE BABY COT
A LUXURY baby cot has hit the shelves with a price tag just shy of 10 MILLION POUNDS .
MESMERIZING STAR TRAILS
MESMERIZING night sky photographs offer a spellbinding look at the stars .
BRITISH BEACH-LIFE SPLIT SHOTS
UNDERWATER and above-water seaside shots show the best of British beach-life .
BRAVEHEART: BABY GIRL SURVIVES HEART SWELLING TO SIZE OF ORANGE
A baby girl has become the youngest British patient to receive a life-saving cardiac operation after her heart swelled to twice its normal size within days of her birth .
RECORD BREAKING WATERMELON
AN American accountant has grown the world's biggest MELON and smashed his way into the record books with his mammoth 350 .
ADORABLE OWLS SHELTER FROM THE RAIN
HUDDLING under a leaf, a pair of adorable Javan scops owls take shelter from the rain .
FRIENDS REUNITED
IT'S the iconic TV show that influenced a whole generation in the 1990s .
LAZY LIZARDS RELAX AND POSE LIKE YODA
With one hand rested on his belly and the other propping his head up, this lazy lizard takes an afternoon break .
HEROIC BURNS SURVIVOR BECOMES FIREFIGHTER
An American man who suffered horrific third-degree burns to 70 percent of his body in a childhood accident has faced his fears by becoming a firefighter .
KUNG-FU FROG IMITATES KARATE KID
Balanced on one leg, a frog assumes the crane kick martial arts stance made famous in the movie The Karate Kid .
REAL LIFE ANIME GIRL
Meet the real life anime girl who looks like a living cartoon character despite never going under the knife .
I LIKE MY SALMON ROAR!
A BROWN bear wades through waters in Alaska and waits for his lunch .