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
OLYMPIC ATHLETES LINE UP IN LEGO 2012 AQUATIC CENTRE
If you tune into primetime coverage of the 2012 Olympic Games, you’re most likely going to see London’s new Aquatic Center from many angles as athletes from all around the globe compete for the top spot on the podium .
TAXIDERMY ART BOOK
A KITTEN'S teaparty and rat's playing dominoes are the bizarre creations by one of Britain's great eccentrics pictured in an incredible new book .
GENTLE WHALE SHARK GIANTS FEED UNDER FISHERMAN’S BOAT
A group of whale sharks gather to feed underneath a fisherman’s boat off the coast of Papua, Indonesia .
BABY BABOON GOES BANANAS FOR ACROBATIC MONKEY
Most people bend over backwards to keep children entertained, but this baboon show us how it’s done .
OWNER PREVENTED FROM FINDING CAT UNDER DATA PROTECTION ACT
A mother has spoken of her outrage after discovering her missing cat had been stolen - only to be told she cannot have its location due to the Data Protection Act .
THE POP-UP HOTEL RETURNS TO GLASTONBURY
GLAMPING is taken to a whole new level in the form of the luxurious Pop-Up Hotel .
FIGHTING FOX IS BEATEN BY EAGLES
A fox takes a tumble and lands on his head when he tries to fend off a pair of eagles in Japan .
BOY, 15, CAN ONLY EAT FRY UPS DUE TO ONE-IN-14M CONDITION
A schoolboy is the envy of his friends due to a one in 14-million condition which means he can only eat FRY-UPS to survive .
RAPED TWICE BY MY SISTER'S FRIEND, AND HE TOOK PICTURES
Brave Amy, 18, has waived her anonymity to tell how she jailed rapist Philip Sims-Neighbour, 37, of Hylton Road, Worcester .
ARTIST NAILS IT- BEAUTIFUL PORTRAITS CREATED FROM NAILS
An artist has NAILED IT by creating beautiful and perfectly precise artwork using a hammer and 30,000 nails .
ENDANGERED GORILLA BORN AT TWYCROSS ZOO
A proud gorilla mum welcomes her newborn baby western lowland gorilla, a critically endangered species .