WALKER, Mich. — The paths of Millennium Park are well tread by Rebecca Postlewait, a West Michigan woman who, two summers ago, set a goal to walk every single day for a year as a way to continue her recovery from a condition that robbed her of the very ability to do so.
As fall begins in West Michigan, Postlewait can say she completed her goal.
"Definitely, there were days when I didn't want to walk, but it was worth it," she said. "I walked when it was minus 6 degrees. I walked when it was 95 degrees. I didn't stop with the weather."
In 2020, severe neck pain put Postlewait in the hospital. Doctors placed her in a medically-induced coma as they searched for a diagnosis. Eventually, they determined the pain was caused by disseminated shingles that had developed into transverse myelitis, a rare neurological condition that affects the spinal cord. Postlewait stayed in the hospital for more than a month. She lost use of her left arm and could barely lift the fingers on her left hand.
"I did not even realize how bad I was," she said.
Upon her return home, Postlewait hardly had the strength to walk. She and her daughter, who left her job to take care of her mother, started with walking from the bedroom to the bathroom.
"That was a big chore," she said.
Then came the rest of the house, then the yard, then the street in their neighborhood. As months of physical and occupational therapy passed, Postlewait put in miles.
Then came Millennium Park.
"I fell in love with the park," Postlewait said. "I didn't really appreciate it until I started walking more."
Now, more than five years removed from her days in the hospital, Postlewait has a year's worth of walking to brag about. While an electronic stimulator implanted in her back still manages the residual pain she feels on her left side, she still managed to put away six million-plus steps on the road called recovery.
"Walking every day really made me take the time to notice the small things," Postlewait said.
A broken foot this past summer only slightly slowed her down, as she spent the last several weeks of her walking plan on a scooter.
"I was so close to that goal. I wasn't going to give up," she said.
During these multi-mile strolls, Postlewait sent photos of Millennium Park's birds, flowers and other wildlife to her husband. She compiled quite a collection over time. Great blue herons and bald eagles. Robins and red-bellied woodpeckers.
"My husband would walk with me sometimes, and he looks at big things," she said. "Then I'd stop and I'd say, 'Did you see that little tiny dragonfly on that branch?' He never saw it, but I took a picture of it because I noticed it."
Postlewait noticed. Now, she's in ArtPrize.
A digital collection of the "tens of thousands" of photos she took while on her walks — mostly at Millennium Park — is currently on display at the Grand Woods Lounge in downtown Grand Rapids.
"I think that's the big message for people in Grand Rapids," she said. "They don't have a clue what [Millennium Park] has to offer. Great paths to walk on. So much to see."
Aptly titled 6 Million Steps, the ArtPrize entry is a testament to Postlewait's tenacity. She wasn't promised a full recovery from her condition, but she's since made good on her own goal.
"This was a big goal," she said. "To walk for a whole year, every single day. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself for accomplishing it."
