Wanda Caruthers has endured a long struggle with cancer, but on Sunday, all of that was forgotten.

Since her chemotherapy ended, Caruthers has been able to resume playing golf despite the amputation of her foot two years ago. While the heat keeps her from playing much, she was determined to gut her way through the Warren County Championship tournament at Clear Creek Golf Course, no matter what toll it took.

“My goal wasn’t to win it, but just to finish,” Caruthers said. “With two days in the heat, in my circumstances, I just was worried about finishing. I had to fight through the pain, it hurt so badly.”

Fight she did — all the way to the county championship. The heart she showed in winning the trophy and surviving the furnance-like heat is the stuff of true champions.

But her start to the tournament wasn’t a good one and she did something she rarely does.

“Saturday, I was very frustrated,” Caruthers said. “I hit a wormburner on my drive and I said to myself, that’s not how you play this game. But I put the hole behind me and moved on. It’s very hard for most golfers to do that.”

It’s a lesson that would serve us all well. To err is human, but to forget is divine, or at least that’s the rule in golf. In her fight against cancer, it’s been a series of ups and downs, but on the links, she’s playing with house money.

Later, on No. 3, she played several beautiful shots, but when her ball rolled off the green into a water hazard, she was forced to take a drop.

But Caruthers was not worried about her playing partners or a series of near-perfect shots undone by a rock-hard green and a quirk of fate.

“I love the game and it’s like no other,” Caruthers said. “It’s really the only game where you’re competing with yourself, trying to beat the score you did before.”

Caruthers has taken advantage of every opportunity to enjoy her golf game and spend quality time with her husband, Mike, and her family. She played in a couples tournament with her husband and played with her buddy Suzanne Hurley in a two-lady scramble at Lake Bruin, which the pair won.

As the cliché goes, you can only play the hand you’re dealt. In Caruthers’ case, her terminal diagnosis is one that she won’t let get in the way of living her life. And as far she’s concerned, she’s only begun to fight, like Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones.

She believes that her relationship with God and her positive outlook are enough to carry her through the days to come. She and her husband will head to Maryland soon for some trial treatments.

“I just want to tell people to keep battling, don’t give up,” Caruthers said. “I know the power of prayer is what’s going to get me there.”

Better advice has seldom been given.

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Steve Wilson is sports editor of The Vicksburg Post. You can follow him on Twitter at vpsportseditor. He can be reached at 601-636-4545, ext. 142 or at swilson@vicksburgpost.com.