Steve Prescott autobiography set for Wembley launch

The official launch of ‘One in a Million’, the autobiography of Steve Prescott, will take place at the Challenge Cup final this year.

Prescott began writing his life story in 2007, when his battle with cancer was in its early days.

The former St Helens, Hull FC and Wakefield player, who represented both England and Ireland at imternational level, died in November of last year.

His passing followed a multi-organ transplant, the complications from which he could not overcome. He had completed the book by the time of his death.

The book features two closing chapters penned by his wife Linzi. The complete text will now, for the first time, tell the ful story of Prescott’s inspiring battle with cancer.

Much space in the book is devoted to how he fought hard and challenged himself and others with a series of endurance feats, the gruelling nature of which would make most people quail with fear.

“At first Stephen just wanted to tell his story after being diagnosed with cancer, but in the end it became so personal to him that he decided to tell the people what he was really going through behind closed doors, and that it wasn’t all about endurance challenges and smiling,” said Linzi Prescott.

“He is very open and honest about what he went through. He really enjoyed writing it and he put a lot of time and effort into it.

“During his last course of chemotherapy at The Christie, he used the treatment time to work on his book, edit it and make sure he was getting it right – and it helped him take his mind off what he was going through at that time.

“He worked on the book from 2007 and was extremely passionate about it in the end; he really wanted to tell his own story and wanted to make sure people got it from him.

“It is certainly not a normal sporting book, it is the whole picture. As well as his rugby career, it will tell the readers in detail what he has been through from the diagnosis in 2006 through to the pioneering transplant in 2013.

“It is a very personal book, told in his words, which people will see as soon as they read it – they will hear Stephen’s voice.

“There are funny stories from his rugby days in there too – Stephen was always a positive person so there is a lot of positivity in the book, but it is also sincere and emotional as well.”

‘One in a Million’ was written with the assistance of sports journalist Mike Critchley. It is published by Vertical Editions, priced £17.99 and is available to pre order at www.spfund.co.uk

All proceeds from the book go to the SP Fund which has been set up for the family of the late  Steve Prescott MBE.