Prescott joins Saints after being given six months to live – six years ago

Steve Prescott has joined the coaching staff at his old club, St Helens, six years after being given six months to live with a rare form of stomach cancer.

The former Hull and Wakefield full-back was diagnosed with Pseudomyxoma Peritonei in 2006. Since then, he has defied prognoses by raising almost £350,000 for his charitable foundation with a series of gruelling physical challenges.

Prescott was embarking on a coaching career with Hull's Under-16s when he was taken ill, but now he has gone back to his first club to help Ian Talbot with Saints' Under-20s.

"I've been serving on the League's disciplinary panel, so it's not as though I've been away from the game," he said. "I had my doubts over whether I'd be up to it, but so far it's been great. I do three nights a week, although there'll be a bit more with the season coming soon."

The young Saints players for whom he now shares responsibility can hardly fail to get a lift from his presence at the club. "It's not all about me, but they know what I've done and hopefully they can be inspired by that in some way," Prescott said.

"We've got some quality talent coming through at Saints and this is a way of me giving something back to the game. It has been like the family of rugby league rallying around."

Prescott might still need further chemotherapy, but recent scans have come up clear and doctors have told him that they do not need to see him for the next three months.

Leigh are to give trials to a running back from American football. Jermaine Allen has been with the Chicago Bears and the New Orleans Saints as well as playing for the London Cobras.

"We don't know if anything will come of it, but we've invited him down to have a look," said the club's caretaker-coach, Paul Rowley.

Rowley said that he would like the job permanently, but Leigh have applied for working visas for Richie Blackmore from New Zealand, and the Australian Matt Adamson.