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
LIQUID SCULPTURES
A BEAUTIFUL sight for the eyes and the imagination, these liquid sculptures take shape in many different colours and formations .
IT'S BEHIND YOU: PHOTOGRAPHER IN WALES IGNORES GIANT WAVES
Southern England, the south-west and west Wales have been warned to expect more wild weather, with heavy rain and high tides possibly leading to coastal flooding and travel disruption over the weekend .
BOARDER” COLLIES AND SURF MAD MUTTS HIT THE WAVES
Dogs catch waves at the Coronado Bay dog surf championships Saturday 22nd June 2013- DOG SURFING mutts have never looked so gnarly .
UNDERWATER DIVING DOGS
WITH A STERN look of determination on their faces, these adorable pooches perfect their doggy paddle as they dive head first into a swimming pool .
SUPER TOT – BIZARRE BABY PHOTO’S
Magical photos of your baby smiling for the first time are a priceless treasure for many a proud parent .
BIG FOOT 'JESUS BIRD'
THIS BIGFOOT 'Jesus bird' may look silly, but he's perfectly designed for walking on water .
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 .
ABANDONED HOBBIT HOUSE
IN THE not so MISTY MOUNTAINS of Wiltshire, there lies an abandoned hobbit house .
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 .
SNEAKY OTTER
A young otter wades through a lake with his eyes set on an older rival’s fish .
TWO FIRES ON MY WEDDING DAYS, EXACTLY ONE YEAR APART BUT WE MARRIED ANYWAY
On June 23, 2017, Coral Denakis, now 27, woke up on the morning of her wedding day to find a car on fire outside her hotel .
WOMAN WEARS SAME TEE FOR A YEAR FOR DAUGHTER WHO CAN’T SPEAK
A mum-of-two has worn the same t-shirt for an entire year to raise awareness of a 1 in 7 million condition that prevents her daughter from talking .