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NO ISSUES For Jane Burns, our local Big Issue seller whose life is a moving story of attitude over adversity. Karine Torr reports
T
he friendliest face daily outside Centre Court, local Southfield’s resident and Big Issue seller Jane Burns, is an avid reader of fantasy novels, (Lord of the Rings being one of her favourites). She spends her days off about town with Caz her best friend American bull dog and takes a keen interest in extreme sports for the disabled, cruising full pelt down Replingham Road in her wheelchair, bouncing over sleeping policemen - a daredevilish substitute until UK sports of the like are developed. But her formidably positive attitude and zest for life is the bright silver lining to a stormy, traumatic past. Aged twenty, whilst studying in Preston to become a qualified accountant she was critically injured in a motorcycling accident; losing her arm and then spending the next 9 years in and out of hospital trying to save her right leg.
Eventually the trauma from the accident began to take its toll however and Jane collapsed from anorexia. After a few months recovering she was still in no state to work and was forced to retire from her job as an accountant in her local council. Simultaneously, and after 67 operations over almost a decade, she finally lost her leg. Her reflection on these events is rather surprising though: “Out of something bad you can create something good.” She no longer felt the constant fear or the anxiety of ‘am I going to lose this leg?’ and was finally free from her attachment to hospitals. Nevertheless her pain would not end there. Still in a vulnerable state, she fell into a marriage with an abusive partner riddled with drug addiction. Fourteen years in a toxic relationship and two babies later, (whom she was forced to put up for adoption), Jane lost her tenacity and was forced out onto the streets. Of that time she says “I felt so low, I didn’t want to live”. Now homeless, she had to search for a way out. Helping out a friend one day, she stumbled on The Big Issue and found selling it was something she was capable of doing and really enjoyed. “It makes you feel less like you’re a nothing and gives you your confidence back.” You can find Jane six days a week interacting with the people of Wimbledon. “I love having that contact and being part of the community,” she says. She’s even become a quasi-counsellor to some, listening to their problems and stories. Becoming financially independent and on a path back to self-sufficiency, her unfailing drive to face whatever life throws at her is an inspiring lesson to us all. “I just take each day as it comes now and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I love life!” darlingmagazine.co.uk | apr-may 2016
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