Fourteen years ago, Jim Hannah was faced with unimaginable grief when both his wife and father died within three months of each other.
For a long time, the 63-year-old, of Norwich, would sit in the graveyard where they were buried and drink alcohol every day.
Then he passed out and woke up in hospital – with no idea of how he had got there.
“Things had gone pear-shaped," he said.
“I’d collapsed outside my home and the surgeon told me if it wasn’t for the lad across the road who spotted me then I wouldn’t have been here.
“Through all the drink I’d given myself an ulcer and I didn’t realise I had it.
“I gave myself one hell of a fright. That was enough to make me give up the drink.”
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And that is when Mr Hannah began selling The Big Issue. It is a move he has praised for saving his life.
He added: “If I didn’t start this 10 years ago, I don’t think I’d have stopped drinking.
“It was actually one of the other vendors who said, why don’t I try it? It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”
Mr Hannah, who has lived in Norwich for 40 years, works as a Big Issue vendor on the city’s Dove Street in the Lanes.
Now he is urging people to help vendors more than ever during the cost-of-living crisis this Christmas, by buying a subscription.
The option for his customers to subscribe to the magazine online has been a vital lifeline, he explained, and has protected him from falling footfall
“My customers who used to go to work have started buying online and my street sales have dipped.
"My pitch is completely empty in the mornings so I’m doing till late in the morning and into the afternoon.
“Those online subscriptions are bringing me back up to somewhere where I was before the pandemic.
“I get quite a few subscribe and I’ve found it quite helpful to have them because my sales have gone down now, and they are keeping [my income] up.
“They have been a game-changer. If they hadn’t come in, I don’t know what would have happened.
“Hopefully things will pick up at Christmas. It normally does when people are out shopping.”
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Mr Hannah is asking others to support the network of 1,500 vendors via subscriptions this festive season and thanked those who had already signed up.
He added: “I’d like to thank everyone that supported all the vendors with a subscription while we were off our pitches during lockdown. Getting that money through the subscription really helped financially.
“And thanks to customers who buy a mag off every vendor in Norwich every week.”
Chris Falchi-Stead, director of sales and operations at the Big Issue, said: “It’s incredibly tough out there for our vendors now.
“The rising costs of food and energy and quieter high streets along with the colder climes are meaning a usually busy time for magazine vendors look increasingly bleak.
“Which is why we are urging people to give our vendors a fighting chance this Christmas and buy a magazine or a subscription from them.
“Every copy bought is £2 earned. Give our vendors a fighting chance this Christmas. Every copy counts.”
If you would like to support Big Issue vendors this Christmas, you can buy a copy from your local vendor or subscribe online and support via www.bigissue.com/christmas. Every subscription can be allocated to a vendor via the vendor map, meaning the vendor receives 50% of the net profits.
For over 30 years, the Big Issue Group has worked to dismantle poverty by creating opportunity through many different initiatives, including supporting more than 100,000 marginalised individuals to earn through selling the Big Issue magazine.
The Big Issue magazine is an award-winning weekly entertainment and current affairs magazine. Vendors who sell the magazine are their own mini enterprises, buying magazines for £1.50 and selling them to the public for £3, keeping the difference.
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