Emergency Department staff at QEHB were treated to their own special glimpse of the Olympic torch when one of the official bearers made an extra journey to thank them for her treatment.

Beckie Port visited the hospital on June 30 with a problem to her right eye just hours before she was due to carry the torch through Dudley on its route from Derby to Birmingham.

The 25-year-old postgraduate researcher at the University of Birmingham was diagnosed with an infection in her eyelid after waking up at home in Bournville unable to open her eye.

But the treatment she received in the Emergency Department ensured she took up her allotted place in Dudley at her due starting time of 17:45.

Beckie, whose university place is funded by Cancer Research UK, said: “I woke up on the Saturday morning and couldn’t open my right eye properly. I knew I had scratched it but was pretty worried when I couldn’t open it.

“It wasn’t that it was going to prevent me from carrying the torch, but if I wasn’t able to open the eye I would have looked weird on the photos.

“Fortunately the doctor at the hospital diagnosed it as an infection and gave me antibiotics. He said it might take a few days to clear up, but I was able to open my eye pretty quickly, although it was still a bit puffy.”

Beckie, who brought the Olympic torch to QEHB after attending a celebration concert in Cannon Hill Park, added: “I just wanted to thank the staff for the treatment they gave me.

“The day was amazing and I couldn’t believe how big the crowds were. I got the flame from the cousin of one of my colleagues, which was a bit weird, and then passed it on to a French person.”

The torch was carried on the same day by David Waldron, a clinical nurse specialist in haematology at QEHB, who took part in the relay along High Street, Smethwick.