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
ENTER THE LOST WORLD
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 .
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 .
OWNER REUNITED WITH PETLOG CAT AFTER KEEPERS HAND HIM BACK
A family who were refused the location of their missing cat under the Data Protection Act have been reunited with their moggie after the keepers handed him back .
ADORABLE SQUIRREL GETS READY FOR A SNOWBALL FIGHT
ROLLING up snow in its tiny paws, this little squirrel is looking for a snowball fight .
ADORABLE CHIMP SHOWS OFF GYMNASTIC SKILLS
WITHOUT a care in the world, this little chimpanzee shows off her gymnastic skills as she swings around her enclosure .
RELAXING SNOW MONKEY
WITHOUT A care in the world, this little snow monkey puts his feet up and settles in for a snooze .
AMAZING AURORA BOREALIS
A GLOWING range of greens and blues sweep across the sky in a spectacular display of light .
PHOTOGRAPHER CAPTURES UNIQUE PATTERNS OF THE HUMAN EYE
A Romanian photographer has captured the unique patterns of hundreds of human eyes in a series of striking macro shots .
DIVERS EXPLORE UNDERWATER CANYON WITH 100M VISIBILITY
A diver explores the crystal clear waters of the Silfra canyon in southern Iceland, which is the only place on Earth where you can dive or snorkel between two continental plates .
CROC VS BAMBI
A BAMBI was dramatically caught in mid-air by a greedy Nile crocodile in a once-in-a-million flying pincer move .
LOVERAT BF HAD SEX IN PUBLIC WITH WOMAN HE’D MET AT GYM AND I FOUND OUT AFTER STRANGERS SENT ME VIDEOS
Katie Thompson, 22, met Joe Firby, now 23, in April 2020 on Tinder .
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: SWIMMING WITH SHARKS
Armed with a snorkel, flippers and her skimpy bikini, an intrepid female free diver swims alongside an array of reef sharks .