A trainee teacher who lost an eye to an aggressive fungus is celebrating a landmark victory in her battle for improved diagnosis of such infections.

Jacqui Stone underwent 22 operations last year as doctors battled to save her left eye, but it eventually had to be removed following fears the infection, caused by the fungus fusarium, would penetrate her optic nerve and enter her brain.

She now wears a prosthetic eye.

Mrs Stone, who has advanced from her role as a teaching assistant to become a trainee teacher at Tabor Academy in Braintree, claims her infection was caused by a contact lens.

The mother-of-two, of Capel Close, Rayne, has been calling for the medical profession to do more to make consultants aware of the signs and symptoms of such infections after she was allegedly misdiagnosed at two different hospitals.

And Mrs Stone is now celebrating a significant victory after seminars at a national conference for Staff and Associate Specialist (SAS) ophthalmologists, the doctors who deliver much of the NHS care in that field, were specifically tailored towards corneal infections and fungal infections relating to contact lens wear.

The topics were added to agenda for the annual conference, held last month in Birmingham, after Mrs Stone was in contact with Kathy Evans, chief executive of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists.