CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Erik Bendl has walked more than 6,000 miles to raise awareness about diabetes, but he doesn't do it alone.
He walks with a giant globe.
Bendl uses "the World" to attract attention and strike up conversations. His message is simple.
"Love yourself. Go for a walk," he said.
Bendl's travels began after his mother, a Kentucky state representative, died of complications from diabetes in 1987. He wanted to do something to show his mother's death was not in vain.
"Give the message to everyone if they stay active, they can keep diabetes away and under control, maybe even turn it around. I lost my mother to diabetes years ago; she was only 54-years-old. Her brother is Type 1 diabetic. He is 93-years-old. I use them both as an example," he said.
Bendl relies on the kindness of strangers to drive him back to his van after he's done walking for the day. Then he drives to the starting point for the next day.
Recently, Bendl's inspirational journey took him through the Carolinas. As the sun set one day in uptown Charlotte, he realized he may not get a ride after all.
"I resolved to walk to the far side of downtown in the dark, then walked a few steps when Alex appeared asking my purpose," he wrote on Facebook. "Within a couple of minutes, he offered to help and restored my faith in humankind. My doubt only gets in the way of good things happening."
The giant globe was given to him by a friend in 1988. When his son was little, Bendl would pump air into the 6-foot high sphere made of canvas with a waterbed inner tube and play in the park. Bendl painted the oceans blue and the continents green.
A reporter who saw the father and son playing asked Bendl if he would be interested in walking with the globe for charity. He said yes, in honor of his mother.
In the late 1990s, Bendl did a 160-mile walk across Kentucky to promote the American Diabetes Association (ADA). It turned out he enjoyed being on the road with few possessions.
Now Bendl talks to everyone about his mother and diabetes as well as the importance of exercise and controlling the disease.
Bendl also donates money to diabetes awareness groups, such as the ADA and the Diabetes Exercise and Sports Association. You can follow Bendl's journey as he chronicles his travels and the people he meets on Facebook.