Britain’s Oldest Person Sets World Record By Having Hip Replacement Surgery Aged 112
Britain’s oldest woman is believed to have set a new world record by having a hip replacement operation at the age of 112.
Gladys Hooper, from Ryde on the Isle of Wight, (pictured above) underwent the surgery after she fell and fractured her hip.
Her 84-year-old son Derek Hermiston said the operation had gone “splendidly” and had given his mother a “new lease of life”.
“I think she is the oldest person in the world to have a hip operation,” he said.
“And the surgeon, Jason Millington, and the anaesthetist were both courageous to take the decision to operate on someone of that age but the operation went splendidly,” he added.
Mr Hermiston said that his mother was “recovering well” after last Friday’s surgery.
“She is standing but not walking yet, they are taking it rather carefully with her as you never know what happens at that age. She listens to music and she’s chatting away,” he said.
The Guinness World Records currently lists John Randall as the oldest person to have a total hip replacement at the age of 102 years, three months and 30 days.
He underwent the procedure at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in November 2011.
Mrs Hooper was born in Dulwich, south east London, and was brought up in Rottingdean, Brighton, East Sussex, and went on to become a concert pianist.
She later started one of the first hire car companies and also ran Kingscliff House School which went on to become Brighton College.
Mr Millington, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, who performed the operation at St Mary’s Hospital in Newport, said he understood the operation on “this amazing lady” was the “oldest documented case worldwide”.
A spokesman for Guinness World Records said: “In regards to Gladys Hooper, we would welcome a record application from a member of her family who could provide further information on her surgery so we can investigate the claim further.”
(Pictures credited to PA and REX)
