All sports talk about heroes, about strength, courage and character. Steve Prescott, a professional rugby league player with top teams like St. Helens and Hull FC as well as the Great Britain side, illustrates the true face of heroism. Steve was diagnosed with Pseudomyxoma Peritonei a rare form of stomach cancer and given five years to live. However he has refused to let this stop him living his life, enjoying while he can the company of his two young children, and raising thousands of pounds for charity.
The Steve Prescott Foundation
Alongside with what can genuinely be called the rugby league family, Steve helped set up The Steve Prescott Foundation. The first event they organised was called The Long Walk Home which covered 200 miles of rugby league rich country and raised over £60000, with Steve himself covering every inch despite having had serious surgery and chemotherapy. Steve Prescott decided to set a tougher target, as if knowing he wouldn't ever see his two children grow up wasn't tough enough.
Carnegie Challenge Cup Challenge
With other rugby league legends like Paul Sculthorpe, Kris Radlinski, Chris Joynt, Steve Hampson, Gary Connolly and Anthony Sullivan, Steve set out to complete a 700 mile bike ride from Perpignan in the south of France, home to the Catalans Dragons, to Wembley to coincide with the Carnegie Challenge Cup Final in London. The trek took place with three groups of differing abilities, including a specially adapted quad bike designed for two players, Jimmy Gittins and Pete Stephenson, who had suffered career ending injuries playing rugby league.
Conquering a Sporting Mount Everest
The participlants as well covering 70-80 miles per day over 11 days, climbed over 49,000 feet, twice as high as Mount Everest. Winding through the French countryside until reaching the English Channel, they took a Dragon Boat, in an extraordinary journey up the Thames, reaching their target with all the usual discipline and determination Steve Prescott has shown all his life. Remarkably they then ran a half marathon to deliver the match ball to the big match.
Steve, 35, says;"I know I have a terminal disease and will never get cured but life is for living now. My condition is stable at the moment and I am taking it one day and one scan at a time. We've all enjoyed training for the event and the more money we can raise for Christie's Hospital in Manchester, where I'm still having treatment, and the Benevolent Fund the better."
RFL Benevolent Fund and Cancer Hospital to Benefit
Rugby league is a tough sport played by arguably some of the toughest sportsman in the world. The Steve Prescott Foundation benefits the Rugby Football League Benevolent Fund for professional and amateur players who have suffered serious injuries. £150,000 has been raised so far, half of which is also going to the Christie Cancer Hospital, where Steve is receiving treatment. After such a phenomenal achievement it will be intensely interesting and inspiring to what Steve Prescott does next.
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