In 1996, Stephen Prescott lifted the first of the several trophies of his glittering rugby league career, during which he played for St Helens, Hull, Wakefield, England and Ireland. From the start of his playing days in 1992, Steve had demonstrated great bravery; as a man with a slim build, he had always faced opponents who were bigger and heavier than him, but he was one of those players who made a very tough game look easy.

 Ten years later, at the age of 32, on the day his wife gave birth to their second son, Stephen Prescott was diagnosed with Pseudomyxoma Peritonei, a rare form of stomach cancer, and given months to live.

 On 9 November, 2013, Stephen Prescott MBE died after his body rejected an initially successful stomach transplant. By that time his charitable organisation, the Steve Prescott Foundation, had raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the Christie Cancer Hospital, The Oxford Transplant Foundation and Try Assist, a charity supporting people seriously injured whilst playing rugby league. Most of this money was raised as a direct result of a series of increasingly gruelling challenges, all led by Stephen himself. These challenges included, amongst others, running four marathons in four days (2010), cycling from Landsend to John O’Groats, climbing the three peaks en route (2011), running the Paris marathon, swimming the English Channel and then running the London marathon (2012) and, shortly afterwards, cycling, swimming and canoeing from Hull to Manchester. All of these feats were achieved by Stephen in the face of great adversity and long after medical experts expected his life to end.

 The Steve Prescott Foundation continues to raise considerable funds and inspire people to achieve things that they thought were beyond them. We are hoping to make our own small contribution to this legacy by taking part in this year’s Tough Mudder, a 12 mile military assault course designed to test the mental durability of its participants. A challenge like this would no doubt have been small fry for Stephen, but is a big step for most of us. We would be very grateful if you could support us by making a donation, however small, to the Steve Prescott Foundation  using this just giving page.