Photo by QUENTIN ROUX // Buy this photo

This is the face of a man who's spent the past eight years walking around the entire perimeter of the United States for a special cause close to his heart. A diabetic, Andy Mandell, has spent all that time promoting diabetes awareness. Here, he makes his way down San Marco Road on Marco Island after the Everglades leg from Miami. The largest of the Ten Thousand Islands marked the marathon walker's right turn into the final leg of the journey to Mandell's hometown of Madeira Beach, where he is also Executive Director of the Defeat Diabetes Foundation.

Photo by QUENTIN ROUX, Staff
Buy this photo »

This is the face of a man who's spent the past eight years walking around the entire perimeter of the United States for a special cause close to his heart. A diabetic, Andy Mandell, has spent all that time promoting diabetes awareness. Here, he makes his way down San Marco Road on Marco Island after the Everglades leg from Miami. The largest of the Ten Thousand Islands marked the marathon walker's right turn into the final leg of the journey to Mandell's hometown of Madeira Beach, where he is also Executive Director of the Defeat Diabetes Foundation.

MARCO ISLAND — Out of thousands of towns Andy Mandell has walked through during an eight-year marathon, perimeter hike of the entire United States, Marco Island was one of the most significant.

It represented the turn for home in the 10,000-plus mile odyssey that started in Madeira Beach, Fla., continued west to San Diego and up through to Seattle, then on to Maine and finally down the eastern seaboard.

“Now it’s basically a straight shot home,” said Mandell, taking a water break on San Marco Road after the last leg of a trek from Miami through the Everglades to reach Marco.

A big, affable bear of a man, 63-year-old Mandell has spent the past eight years walking literally around the country with the single-minded mission of promoting diabetes awareness.

He named it the Mr. Diabetes Wake Up and Walk Tour.

A diabetic himself, Mandell is also executive director of the Defeat Diabetes Foundation based in Madeira Beach, north of St. Petersburg.

Backed by traveling tour managers Russ and Shirley Barriger, Mandell has spread the message far and wide, walking daily distances of between 20 and 30 miles and putting the mission on hold only for severe winters, to mellow a bit.

“Otherwise, we’ve picked up every inch of the distance,” said Mandell, who uses a walking pole handed down to him by his dad.

“I don’t have too much feeling in my legs because of being diabetic,” he explained.

Essentially, the message Mandell wants to spread is awareness of the disease, the associated risks, the warning signs and the high medical costs involved.

He points out that the most prevalent form of diabetes is type 2, and that about 24 million Americans are afflicted.

But, he said, timeous testing can prevent the disease 95 percent of the time, and for that reason he exhorts people to visit his defeatdiabetes.org Web site and take a simple, online test.

Out on the road for so long, Mandell has also had the opportunity to savor his country from a unique vantage point.

“Each area of the country has its own, distinct, picturesque beauty,” he said. “I’ve done it slowly enough to see communities and regions in seasons of transitions.”

Accommodation has mostly been in RVs staying overnight in camp sites, while the trio have borne most of the costs themselves.

“We’ve also had a little outside support,” Mandell said.

Naturally, nutrition has been a big issue during the mammoth walk, with Mandell favoring mainly fruits and vegetables in line with his “raw foodist” philosophy.

“But, we haven’t gone short on food,” he said, jokingly patting his midriff.

While providing vital back-up, the Barringer couple has been happy to be more or less out of the limelight.

“It’s pretty much like going to work every day,” Russ Barriger said.

Mandell said the “straight shot home” will be paced out for the next couple of months to coincide with a Dec. 14 celebration in Sarasota, and another a week later in the trio’s hometown to mark the end of the astonishing trip.

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