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
ADORABLE DOLPHINS VISIT AUSTRALIAN BEACH FOR BREAKFAST

SWIMMING slowly towards the shore, a small group of bottlenose dolphins arrive for breakfast at a beach in Western Australia .

‘WORLD’S SMALLEST CINEMA’ IN OAP’S HOUSE

Pic By HotSpot Media - ‘WORLD’S SMALLEST CINEMA’ IN OAP’S HOUSE -IN PIC- AN OAP film buff has brought the big screen to his home and built the world's smallest cinema in his BEDROOM .

GIRL NICKNAMED JAWS BITES BACK AFTER SURGERY

A GIRL nicknamed JAWS by bullies who taunted her because of her underbite is em-bracing her new post-surgery life .

TINY CHRISTMAS ANGEL, SIX, IS SIZE OF TWO YEAR OLD

Pint- size Maci Winters only has one wish this Christmas - to be as tall as the other boys and girls on the school playground .

TROUBLESOME PYLON MEETS EXPLOSIVE END

THIS is the EXPLOSIVE moment when a 50 metre high pylon came crashing down to earth in a rural field .

MOTHER'S FEAR AFTER SUICIDE DAUGHTER’S STALKER RELEASED

A mother is living in fear after the stalker she holds responsible for her daughter's death is back on the streets, after serving just one year in prison .

LIFE-LIKE PENCIL DRAWINGS

AT first glance these images could easily be mistaken for photographs, but they are in-fact real life drawings created using nothing but coloured pencils .

A LOT OF BOTTLE: ARTIST PAINTS PICTURE USING JUST COKE

This artist had a lot of bottle to re-create a masterpiece painted with nothing but 24 litres of cola .

FIGHT CUB

JUMPING and bouncing off one another, these young cheetahs enjoy some harmless fun .

HARVEY NICKS ADS ARE A WEE BIT TOO MUCH FOR SHOPPERS

High street giant Harvey Nichols has come under fire for a "disgusting" ad campaign that depicts a woman peeing herself .

TEST COULD HAVE SAVED ME FROM CERVICAL CANCER AT 20

A young woman has told how she has been robbed of her fertility and now faces an uncertain future after she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of just 22 .

SURREAL WILDLIFE

AN EXERCISING turtle and an ice-skating chick are hardly everyday exploits in the animal community .