Exploring Motivation . . . with Rebecca Levenberg, Amputee Rock Climber and Blogger

Before the pandemic, Rebecca Levenberg could often be found on a rock-climbing wall—participating in the sport she fell in love with after she became an amputee.

Rebecca holding her climbing
leg at the 2018 international
Federation of Sport Climbing
World Championships held in
Innsbruck, Austria.

“At first, I liked climbing because it used my muscles and exhausted me like my old activities, skating and biking, used to,” Rebecca told me in an interview we did before the shutdown. “But it became more than that. With biking and skating, I had relearned some skills, but I couldn’t perform at the level I once did. Once I started climbing regularly, I found that I could climb with anyone—and it wasn’t a matter of trying to keep up. In a climbing gym, and even outdoors, there’s a wide range of routes for different abilities and climbing styles.”

Rebecca’s life changed drastically 10 years ago next month when a garbage truck crossed into the bike lane she was using. She sustained internal injuries, and the truck crushed her left leg, which had to be amputated above her knee. Yet, just nine months later, she was motivated to start sharing her experience on a blog she calls A Thousand Miles.

“Growing up, I had always enjoyed writing and was working to get back to it at the time of my accident,” she said via e-mail. “The month before the accident, I had submitted a travel article to the Inquirer and it was published in December 2010, while I was in the hospital. My parents hung it on the door of my hospital room at Jefferson [Hospital]. When doctors and nurses came in to see me, they would joke, ‘You’ve been busy!’ But it made them realize I was a writer.”

The name of her blog—and a goal she set for herself during her recovery—came from a gift. “I drew inspiration from a necklace my aunt and uncle had given me shortly after the accident,” she explained. “It had a charm inscribed with the quote, ‘The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.’ I was learning to walk again and decided to set a goal of walking 1,000 miles on my new prosthetic leg. The idea of a blog developed from there. With each mile, I’d talk about what was going on with my recovery and include related memories from the accident, my time in the hospital, and the gains and losses along the way.”

I met Rebecca a little more than five years ago at an adaptive cross fit demo. I became a regular reader of her blog (and learned a few things from her social media savvy). Her posts demonstrate her true talent as a writer, and I especially like the fact that she shares some of her down moments. I think it’s crucial for people who write about disability to show all sides of the experience. I actually texted Rebecca after reading “Angry Cookies” because it was so good. Another post titled “Still” grabbed me as well and is also very relatable for anyone with a physical disability or any ongoing condition.

“I love to talk about the positive parts of the journey, of course, but it’s so important to describe the challenges as well,” Rebecca said. “I’m an optimistic person—as I was before my injury—but I’m also a perfectionist. So, I’ve had to learn to cut myself a break once in a while—to acknowledge that ‘this is hard,’ and embrace downtime when I need to. . . . Every day there are multiple challenges, visible and invisible, major and minor. We all have strengths and struggles, even as we move forward. That’s why I try to tell both sides of the story.”

Rebecca pointed out two additional posts that touched on these topics — “Overcoming” and the more recent “Souperficial Wounds.”

While Rebecca returned part-time to her career as a teacher after her accident, she soon became a peer mentor for other amputees and their families, and recently became a coordinator for the peer mentoring program at Magee Rehabilitation. She’s also a speaker, relating her experiences especially to prospective doctors, nurses, and rehabilitation specialists.

“My passion was moving in a new direction,” she said. “I wanted to support the occupations that had an impact on my recovery, so I spoke about my experiences to [physical therapy] and medical students, trauma doctors and nurses, and even high school students interested in prosthetics.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is her love of rock climbing. In 2017, two years after she discovered the sport, Rebecca entered her first adaptive climbing competition. “I signed up because I wanted to meet other adaptive climbers like me,” she said. But she did much more than that. She placed second in her category—female lower extremity amputees. She began working with a coach at her local rock gym, and in 2018, her performance at Nationals qualified her for Team USA at the Paraclimbing World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, where she placed 8th in qualifiers.

In “Exploring Motivation,” I try to get people to do a video response to the question, “What’s your favorite exercise?” Rebecca told me that outside of climbing, her usual exercise routine is walking every morning around her neighborhood. So, in response to my question, she allowed me to share this incredible video of her best climb in Innsbruck:

After working from home for several months during the pandemic, Rebecca recently returned to her in-person peer mentoring duties. She also continues to keep her blog fresh. “Nine years later,” she says, “it continues to help me process my feelings and document the journey.”

Best of all, she’s been able to get back on the rock-climbing wall after shutdown put her favorite exercise on hold. “I couldn’t be happier,” she said in a recent Instagram post.