LOS ANGELES -- Freddie Freeman sat inside the Dodger Stadium interview room on Monday sporting a blue T-shirt that read #MaxStrong across the chest. A few words into his first sentence, Freeman couldn’t hold back his tears, grabbing a towel and holding it close to his face.
A few hours later, Freeman made his return to the field after a nine-day absence due to his youngest son, Maximus, being diagnosed with a rare neurological illness called Guillain-Barré syndrome. The star first baseman was moved to tears once again by a standing ovation before his first at-bat of the Dodgers' 5-3 win over the Phillies.
“Since I’ve got here, these three years I’ve been here, it’s hard to put into words what the Dodger fans have meant to us and our family,” Freeman said after the game. “In the toughest times, it shows the true character of this organization’s fans, and it’s absolutely incredible.”
In a positive announcement posted on Instagram on Sunday, the Freemans shared that Max was back at home and is recovering well. Freeman said there’s no timetable for Max to heal completely. That all varies per patient. But after a long week for the Freemans, they were told their youngest child would make a full recovery.
“Max is doing all right,” Freeman said. “We came home Saturday night from the ICU. So we started physical therapy yesterday, and let me tell you, he hates that. But he’s doing OK. He’s back, he’s Max. He’s doing good in that aspect. But he’s got to relearn how to do pretty much everything. Terrible syndrome. He’s doing OK. He’s on his way to being better.”
Over a 30-minute interview before the series opener against the Phillies, Freeman went into detail, for the first time, about Max’s timeline. A couple of weeks ago, as the Dodgers hosted the Giants, Freeman said he was notified by his wife, Chelsea, that Max’s situation was getting worse. Freeman was then seen running out of the Dodgers' clubhouse just minutes after the last out was recorded.
The following day, Freeman said he was pulled out of the game in the ninth inning because Dodgers manager Dave Roberts notified him that they were taking Max to the hospital. There, the Freemans were told their youngest son was battling transient synovitis. From there, Max started taking the proper medication for that illness, but nothing was working.
As the Dodgers and Freeman flew to Houston last weekend, things back home continued to trend in the wrong direction for the 3-year-old. That Friday, Freeman was told that it was not transient synovitis; instead, they thought it was a case of Guillain-Barré. Max was then taken to the emergency room. Freeman took the next flight home out of Houston.
“The paralysis usually doesn’t take that quick to move up your body,” Freeman said. “Within four days, it reached his shoulders, which is affecting his diaphragm and breathing. So I’m at an airport trying to fly home and getting updates. It was absolutely awful. But I can’t imagine my wife, my family, being there and seeing all this happening to your son.
“By 7:30, he was completely ventilated, feeding tubes, everything. So I walked in about 10 o’clock … I think a lot of us are parents in here, and seeing one of your kids with a ventilator, fighting, it was hard.”
Thankfully, however, a few days after the ventilator went in, Max began to make a strong recovery, and was able to get the breathing and feeding tubes removed on Wednesday. Two days later, Max was discharged from the hospital, the best sign that he was going to be OK.
“It’s a good thing I’m here, because it means things are trending better,” Freeman said as he choked up. “Chelsea and I, it’s been a long week. No one should have to go through this, especially a 3-year-old. I don’t know how many times Chelsea and I said we wish we could switch.”
Though Freeman’s youngest son is back home, Max will now have to relearn how to walk, along with a lot of other everyday activities. But after a long nine days, the Freemans are now at a place where they could talk about their son’s strength.
“Certainly, Freddie had a heavy heart,” said Roberts. “Max is on his way back, and it was good to have Freddie back. But it was really cool to see people rally around Freddie and the Freeman family tonight.”
Freeman said he received support from the entire Dodgers organization, with president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman making it clear that he did not have to report back to the team until he was 100 percent ready. Freeman also said he got constant messages from the Braves organization and gave special shoutouts to Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo and Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who got his entire staff to send over a video message to Max and the rest of the Freemans.
It was an emotional day for Freeman, who deeply exhaled as he walked out of Dodger Stadium. But between the custom shirts, the standing ovation, the hugs and well wishes from everyone in attendance -- including Bryce Harper and the Phillies -- it all served as reinforcement that Max’s strength will prevail.
“I was happy to be out there. I really was,” Freeman said. “I didn’t know how it was going to be when I stepped on the field and what I was going to be feeling, but the green grass, the dirt, the fans. It just reminds me how beautiful this game is and why I love it so much.”