Freddie Freeman rejoined the Los Angeles Dodgers after spending the last 10 days focused on being with his family amid son, Maximus, going through a significant health scare.
Each of Freeman’s three sons were under the weather during the 2024 All-Star Game at Globe Life Field, but Max’s condition worsened compared to his siblings. The saga that ensued included initially being misdiagnosed.
“We took him everywhere and a lot of people were telling us it transient synovitis, which is like a pain in the hip after you get a viral infection,” Freeman recalled.
“He was spot on with that. He really was. If you look up those symptoms, that’s exactly what Max had. But Tuesday (July 23), he still couldn’t walk and he couldn’t sit up anymore by that time.”
Max was admitted to the hospital the following night, and Freeman met his wife Chelsea in the emergency room after the Dodgers’ loss to the San Francisco Giants. They weren’t discharged until around 3:30 a.m. on July 25, again still believing their 3-year-old son was suffering from transient synovitis.
As Max failed to make a recovery, doctors ultimately diagnosed him with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological disorder. He was put on a ventilator to aid with breathing and required feeding tubes.
The harrowing ordeal has given way to Max making enough progress in the recovery to be released from the hospital last week. That paved the way for Freeman to be activated.
“It’s a good thing I’m here, because it means things are trending better,” he said. “Wednesday at 10:46, I’ll never forget it, he had his ventilator pulled. We had P.T. there, so right when his ventilator was pulled, within six minutes he was sitting on me. I can’t tell you how good that felt, to be able to hold my son again.
“That was a special time, just knowing how hard he fought in those five days. When he was born, we were trying to figure out a name. We had to name two kids at the time. Chelsea came upon Maximus. I was like, ‘That’s a strong name.’
“I didn’t know it would be proven true within four years of his life of how strong this little boy is. It’s heartbreaking. It really is. Chelsea has been telling me she’s been kind of updating everyone as we’ve gone through. You could see his smile again. She showed me one of the pictures she was going to let out, and that’s how he is at home right now. Where his IVs were, he has a little scab, and he calls that his ‘boo-boo.’ He thinks that’s his only boo-boo, which is wonderful.
“When he had the ventilator out and his feeding tube came out, he still had his IVs in, so he was acting like he’s Spider-Man. Anybody that came in, he was shooting them. If you talked to me six days ago, I would’ve never been able to speak. I wouldn’t have been able to do it. But the reason I’m able to get through this is because of the huge wins we’ve been getting the last few days with him. It’s been a miraculous recovery.”
Dodgers #MaxStrong shirts
When Freeman arrived at Dodger Stadium on Monday, he was greeted by teammates, coaches and broadcasters wearing blue t-shirts with “#MaxStrong” across the chest.
“I do not know whose idea it was. That was the first time I cried today, when I walked in and saw those. It means a lot,” Freeman said.
“The support from this organization, there’s no words. I can’t even put it into words. I’m just so glad he was able to be at CHOC. That team of doctors and nurses, I can’t thank them enough. I can’t thank IVIG (intravenous immunoglobulin), that medicine, enough, because that’s what helped.
“And them knowing to do that was huge. I’m sure I’ll be crying a lot more throughout the day, so bear with me. There’s just no words for what the Dodgers have meant to our family over the nine days.”
In addition to the entire Dodgers organization, Freeman thanked the Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo, among others, for support and well-wishes they offered the family.
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