A woman born in 1924 has gone viral on TikTok by sharing how a common ear infection was treated when she was a child—an era before antibiotics when life-saving surgery meant drilling into a child’s skull.
James Marsh, 42, from London, has helped turn his 101-year-old grandmother into an internet sensation through his TikTok account (@jmweightlosscoach), where a recent video has racked up 1.1 million views. The clip features the centenarian calmly recounting how she underwent a severe procedure known as a mastoidectomy twice as a child.
“She says there was no bedside manner or training for how to put children at ease,” Marsh told Newsweek.
In the July 6 video, she explains that the procedure was done to treat severe ear infections that risked spreading to the brain—a time before antibiotics were available.
The surgery was designed to remove pus from infections in the bone behind the ear. Over time, many doctors argued that surgery was better for treating these infections than just simple drainage.
But in her own words to Marsh, she summed it up starkly: “In those days, if they wanted to save your life, the [doctors] had to make a hole in your head.”
She says she underwent the procedure at the ages of 2.5 and 6. Explaining the urgency, she added: “If [the infection] went to your brain and you were finished in a few weeks as a child.”
Marsh described to Newsweek what these hospital visits were like for his grandmother: “She often had to go to visit the hospital and it would be a dark room that she describes as like looking into ‘hell.’ The doctor’s instruments would be boiling away to be sterilized, and he had medical students with him who would all take turns staring into her mastoid wound (behind the ear).”
It wasn’t until the arrival of penicillin in her 20s that the infection finally cleared completely.
In the clip, the former optician and housewife also notes that young doctors today all gather to see the hole, as they have never witnessed the procedure themselves.
Her story resonated with viewers, sparking both horror and admiration.
“My gran lost her baby daughter with an ear infection which went into her brain at 18 months old in 1943. We are so lucky to be living when we do,” one user commented.
Another wrote: “Life before antibiotics was so brutal.”
But many focused on her remarkable presence at 101. “She’s so sharp and elegant and eloquent!” praised one user, while another added: “I refuse to believe she’s 101…she is incredible.”
Secrets to a Long Life
When asked by Newsweek about his grandmother’s secrets to longevity, Marsh shared her simple yet disciplined approach:
- Reading/listening to the radio regularly
- Family calling daily
- Eating mainly whole foods (meat/vegetables/fruit)
- Very little alcohol
- Tough mentality as she went through a lot of medical issues over the course of her life
- Living in a tall house where she still goes up and down the stairs multiple times daily
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