Walking to defeat diabetes
By JACQUIE BRASHER

MANDELL VISITS THE FOREST-BLADE

Andy Mandell has been walking. A lot. By the time he got to Swainsboro, he had clocked over 9,070 miles. He left East Milton, Florida in January 2002 and arrived in Kite on Valentine's Day 2008. So why do this? Well, to put it simply, Mandell is on a mission to promote diabetes awareness to everyone he meets.

"I'm doing a perimeter walk of the United States," said Mandell, known popularly as Mr. Diabetes. "What's worse than finding out you have diabetes? NOT finding out!"

Mandell is a self-made man and entrepreneur who developed several highly successful educational games, notably Quations The Crossmath Game, Crossmath Puzzles, Micro Magic and others. He is also an exercise enthusiast, and a Black Belt in the martial arts style of Shaolin Kempo Karate.

He has walked through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Cur- rently, he is walking through Georgia. He will end his trip back where he began, in Florida.

Mandell is extremely friendly and personable. He loves to speak to schools, civic clubs and local groups. His tour managers are Russ and Shirley Barriger, who ensure that Mr. Diabetes is safe on the road. They also document his trip, map out his route and coordinate his publicity.

Among his goals is to help identify the 11 million American diabetics who don't know they have the disease; to help identify and prevent diabetes among the 41 million pre-diabetic Americans; and to provide current and accurate information about diabetes to all people at the Defeat Diabetes Foundation website.

The Mr. Diabetes Wake Up and Walk Tour is a 10,000+ mile walk of the perimeter of the United States by Defeat Diabetes Foundation Executive Director, Andy Mandell, to raise awareness about the incidence and prevention of diabetes and the importance of early detection of the disease. Visit Mandell's website at www.defeatdiabetes.org to learn more about his journey across the country.

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