LOS ANGELES — When Freddie Freeman and his wife were considering what to name their third child, Chelsea came upon Maximus. Freeman thought it sounded strong. He could not, however, have known how quickly Maximus would demonstrate that strength.
Freeman returned to the Dodgers on Monday after a harrowing 10 days on the family emergency list, during which his 3-year-old son battled a rare autoimmune condition that left him temporarily paralyzed. With Max now home from the hospital and on the road to recovery, Freeman rejoined his teammates at Dodger Stadium, where they were all wearing #MaxStrong T-shirts before the series opener against the Phillies.
“That was the first time I cried today, when I walked in and saw those,” Freeman said. “It means a lot. The support from this organization has been…there’s no words.”
It was an emotional first day back for Freeman, who brought a towel with him to wipe away his tears during a 30-minute press conference in which he detailed the distressing events of the past few weeks and the hopefulness that has followed. On July 22, Max woke up with a limp. Four days later, he was in the hospital on a ventilator due to the effects of Guillain-Barre syndrome, an illness in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves.
While Max will need to relearn how to do “pretty much everything,” according to Freeman, the family was told he should eventually make a full recovery.
“It feels like a miracle,” Freeman said. “It really does.”
All three of Freeman’s kids were feeling sick while the family was in Arlington for the All-Star Game. Max threw up on the flight home that Tuesday night, but the Freemans couldn’t have suspected anything more than a typical illness until nearly a week later, when Max began struggling to walk. He was initially diagnosed with transient synovitis, a temporary condition causing hip inflammation that kids can get after a viral infection.
A day later, Max could no longer sit up. Freeman had just wrapped up his Tuesday game against the Giants when he returned to a text from his wife: “I just got Brandon to sleep. Max is not doing good.” Freeman sprinted out of the clubhouse to try to get from Los Angeles to his Orange County residence as fast as possible. When he returned home, Max was asleep but waking up every hour. The symptoms were still consistent with the initial diagnosis.
But a day later, things continued to spiral. Before the Dodgers hit in the bottom of the ninth inning on July 24 against the Giants, Chelsea reached out to Dodgers clubhouse manager Alex Torres to relay to Freeman that Max was heading to the emergency room. Max was no longer eating or drinking. Freeman left the game early and rushed to meet his family at the hospital.
“No one should have to go through this, especially a 3-year-old,” Freeman said. “I don’t know how many times Chelsea and I said we wish we could switch.”
Max was given an IV and underwent a series of tests. He was still diagnosed with transient synovitis. Freeman said his son was prescribed Toradol to help with the pain. Max was discharged at 3:30 a.m. A supply of Tylenol every four to six hours was supposed to help relieve him of his symptoms. Freeman returned to the Dodgers for their 1 p.m. series finale that Thursday. He went 1-for-4. He would not play again for the next 10 days.
Freeman flew with the Dodgers to start their road trip, but he called his wife on FaceTime to tell her he didn’t feel great about it.
“Something was off,” he said. “It just felt wrong to leave.”
That Friday, Freeman did his usual early work to get ready for the game in Houston, then disappeared into the clubhouse to FaceTime in for Max’s pediatrician appointment. Immediately, the doctor told the Freeman family that Max had to go to the hospital. Whatever this was, it was not transient synovitis.
“They were ready to call an ambulance for him because they didn’t think he was going to be able to breathe that long,” Freeman recalled, holding back tears. Freeman booked a flight home before the Dodgers played that night. The paralysis caused by Guillian-Barre syndrome starts from the feet and moves up the body, Freeman explained. For Max, it happened quicker than usual. Within days, it had reached his shoulders, affecting his diaphragm and breathing.
“You just wish you could switch,” Freeman said. “You really do. I’ve been through a lot in my life. I lost my mom when I was 10, but you can’t really compare any of this, because it’s like, they’re both awful, but when it’s your son or your child, and he can’t breathe on his own, that was hard. Walking into the room Friday night was, I mean, that’s as hard as it probably got.”
Freeman arrived at Children’s Hospital of Orange County to see his son on a ventilator and feeding tubes. The doctors started Max on an intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment. The first round took six hours. The next round started 12 hours later. Then it was a waiting game. Soon after, though, it was clear the IVIG treatment was working when Max was able to shrug his shoulders. The Freemans weren’t out of the woods, but it finally represented a step in the right direction.
Last Wednesday, five days after Max was rushed to the hospital, the ventilator was removed. When he still had his IVs in, Max began to act like Spider-Man, pretending to shoot anyone who came into the room with his webs.
“Within six minutes, he was sitting on me,” Freeman said. “I can’t tell you how good that felt, to be able to hold my son again.”
Freeman broke down multiple times Monday while relaying and reliving what had transpired. He was moved by the support his family was given throughout the ordeal — from the team of doctors and nurses at CHOC, including Dr. Jason Knight and his staff in the PICU, to the Dodgers organization, to others throughout MLB, including his former Braves team, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo and Brewers manager Pat Murphy, whose staff sent a video letting him know they were praying for him and wishing him well.
Understandably, baseball was far from his mind as he tended to his son. Freeman said he might have watched one highlight from the Astros series. He got out to hit a couple of times last week, but the Dodgers, from president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and the front office to the coaching staff, encouraged him to take as much time as he needed.
“I think Freddie is a very good compartmentalizer,” manager Dave Roberts said. “A guy that plays every day, you have to be. There’s always things that are going on in your life that you’ve got to kind of navigate to still do your job. In this particular case, he was 100% present with his family, and that was our advice. He needed to be.”
On Saturday, Max returned home from the pediatric intensive care unit. A day later, he began physical therapy. In addition to figuring out how to walk again, Max also needs to relearn how to open his curled fingers and to sleep through the night.
“But he’s doing OK,” Freeman said. “He’s back. He’s Max.”
On Saturday, Freeman went to his old high school, El Modena, to run the bases, hit on the field and throw with his dad. Two days later, Freeman returned to Dodger Stadium. Before stepping to the plate for the first time, he received a standing ovation from the 48,178 fans in attendance as well as the Phillies’ dugout. He removed his helmet and tapped his chest to show his appreciation. In his second at-bat in 10 days, Freeman singled off Aaron Nola. At first base, he shared a hug with Bryce Harper, who had texted Freeman at least four times during his time on leave.
Freeman does not yet know what it will be like getting back into a baseball groove. He knows he’ll have to fight fatigue. But on Monday, he was happy to step back onto the field, to see the green grass, to feel the dirt under his cleats, to hear the support from the fans and to feel a bit more normalcy again.
Right now, Max is waking up every two hours. The road ahead will likely be long. There is no set timeline for how long a full recovery will take.
But his son is finally home.
“I know Dodger fans don’t like this, but I would gladly strike out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, in Game 7 of the World Series, 300 million times in a row, than see that again,” Freeman said. “But he’s on his way. He’s on his way.”
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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