BICKNELL — Winning and losing in sports is normally a simple task of adding up a score. Someone has more points, more goals, more baskets, less strokes, less time.

But winning in life is normally more complicated. Wins and losses can be lost in a fog of clouds and smoke.

For 36-year-old Bicknell resident Ryan McClure, wins and losses on the golf course were usually pretty easy to discern. He had won his share of amateur tournaments, and he had lost in his share.

McClure didn’t start playing golf until his late teens while working on the grounds crew at the Bicknell Country Club under present Country Oaks superintendent Max Nickless.

But golf, and life, became a bit murky and less constant early in 2011 when McClure went for a check with Bicknell physician Tom Kirkwood.

McClure had a mole on his neck the physician found. The mole had been present for some time, and when Kirkwood wanted to test the mole, McClure thought little of it.

The test showed the mole was melanoma, a dangerous skin cancer that can be caused by exposure to the sun.

Suddenly, golf took a back seat.

McClure was sent to Indianapolis for tests. In the meantime, a friend told the McClures about ND Anderson, a cancer treatment center in Houston.

The first of what would prove to be many trips was taken to the center, and after tests and surgeries, McClure was told the good news the disease had spread very little. He was also told the bad news the disease had spread before surgery removed affected lymph nodes.

The Bicknell resident was asked to give himself interferon shots at home, and he entered a case study that included 30 patients. The timing of the find was good because the cancer was caught before it spread, plus it was in time for him to qualify for the study.

He was the 29th patient included. The family returned to Houston every three weeks through the first six months.

At the same time, the self-administered shots were causing McClure to lose weight and strength. He weighs about 165 pounds. By the time the weekly shots ended at the end of last year, his weight was down to 132.

“They told me the treatments would  make me feel like I had the flu every day for the following six months,” McClure said. “There were some pretty rough times. I was able to work, but everyone was pretty good to me.”

Everyone also includes the community who held a benefit that helped with expenses involved with the numerous trips.

“The community was tremendous,” Jill said. “Thank goodness they held the benefit. It really helped and we’re appreciated it.”

The cancer center reduced the dosage of the shots because of the weight loss.  Testing, now every three months, continue today and are expected to last for three years.

“My daughter was in a contest last summer, and Jill told me I should go,” McClure said. “She said it would make me feel better to get out a bit. I stayed for about 20 minutes, but it was really hot, and I felt like I was going to faint. I just didn’t feel well enough to stay any longer.”

With the end of the treatment and the study, McClure slowly started working his way back.

Golf had been out of the question since August, and that was just mostly riding around with friends at a tournament because they wanted him to be there.

McClure had played an average of once a week. There were times when he wasn’t too bad. There were just as many times that he wasn’t too good.

He shot 166 in two rounds in the Lawrence County Open in Lawrenceville, Ill., two weeks before the Baymont Inn and Suites Classic at Country Oaks two weeks ago.

That’s when a pleasant present was provided to McClure.

He shot 71 the first day of the tournament. The second day provided a 65, a round that McClure admitted was likely the best he had recorded in a tournament.

“I had several friends following me around the second day for support, and they were giving me a pretty hard time about shooting 65 in the A Flight,” McClure said. “I really don’t know how it happened. It was like for the first time in the past coupe of years that everything came together. It was a surprise.”

It was perhaps a small victory, but one that everyone could celebrate.

The performance was welcomed, but the battle is far from over. His cancer is seemingly under control, but McClure said doctors in Houston have told him it can return.

“It still seems surreal,” Jill said. “It’s something that you read about. It’s something that you think will never happen to you. Sometimes — it’s not like a dream — it’s just something you never think about.”

Ryan and his family certainly have a different view of sun screen.

“I use it everytime I go out,” McClure said. “When I play golf I reapply it two or three times.”

“Our kids are a lot like Ryan,” Jill said. “They’re all light skinned.”

“I found sun screen one day that was 110,” Ryan said. “They say to use one that’s at least 30, although I do use it several times when I’m out. Tan has been thrown out of my fashion statement.”

Both Ryan and Jill try to take life daily, remaining hopeful that the battle is over.

“We really don’t think that much about it on a daily basis,” Ryan said. “When we have to go back to Houston, I think we think about it again. I think we’re dealing with it pretty well. I try to just be myself.”