LOS ANGELES — Freddie Freeman returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday afternoon, clutching a towel and pausing to wipe away tears often as he described the “miracle” that has his youngest son, Maximus, on the road to recovery after a severe illness that left the 3-year-old temporarily paralyzed.
Due to Maximus’ hospitalization for Guillian-Barré syndrome, a severe neurological disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks its own nerves, Freeman has not been with the Dodgers for the last ten days.
“Seeing one of your kids with a ventilator, fighting,” he said, choking up, “it was hard.”
According to Freeman, Maximus should fully recover. Freeman rejoined the Dodgers after being out of town for the previous eight games for this reason. However, the experience’s feelings are still raw.
When he saw his teammates’ blue T-shirts with Freeman’s name and No. 5 on the back and the hashtag #MaxStrong printed across the front, he started crying in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse. Patricia Romero, who works with the organization as a go-between for the club and the wives of the players, put together the jerseys.
Wearing that shirt, Freeman spoke at his press conference about the terrifying period he and his spouse, Chelsea, went through while Maximus was being treated by physicians at Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
Get well soon, Max! We’re all rooting for you. 💙 pic.twitter.com/oEHplZd20L
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 5, 2024
Speaking in amazement, Freeman talked about his young kid, who came home on Saturday night and started physical treatment on Sunday to regain his walking skills.
“When he was born, we were trying to figure a name for two kids at that time,” Freeman said, referring also to their son, Brandon, who was born six weeks before Maximus. “Chelsea came upon Maximus. I was like, ‘That’s a strong name.’ I said I didn’t know it was going to be proven true within four years of his life, how strong this little boy is. … It’s heartbreaking, it really is.”
According to Freeman, Maximus, along with two other kids, Charlie, 7, and Brandon, 7, were ill as a result of a viral infection while at the All-Star break in Arlington, Texas. The sickness persisted after the interval. On July 22, the Monday after, Maximus started to hobble. During a consultation with the physicians and multiple others that evening, Maximus displayed signs of transitory synovitis, which is a brief inflammation of the hip joint caused by a virus. At first, Freeman thought he would not play then.
By that evening, Maximus was unable to walk. He was unable to sit up by July 23. After the Giants game that evening at Dodger Stadium, Freeman ran home to be with him. On July 24, when Chelsea called clubhouse manager Alex Torres to inform him that Maximus had stopped eating and drinking, the Dodgers withdrew Freeman from the ninth inning. The doctors’ advised Tylenol treatment for temporary synovitis was not helping. Maximus ended up in the emergency department.
Freeman claimed that he only slept for an hour the night before the team’s game the following day, but he still felt nervous when he boarded the plane to Houston that afternoon, the team’s intended destination for the first of three cities on the tour.
On July 25th, he landed in Houston. On Friday, the next day, Freeman worked through his usual early routine with Dino Ebel, the third-base coach, and then withdrew to the Minute Maid Park visiting clubhouse. Maximus’s condition had rapidly deteriorated; Freeman observed via FaceTime as Chelsea brought him back for a medical reassessment. Then, while Maximus went back to the ER, he called traveling secretary Scott Akasaki and made travel plans to Los Angeles.
“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 said, taking another moment to gather his breath. The symptoms were no longer compatible with acute synovitis, including paralysis that now extended to their son’s shoulders. Maximus had a feeding tube inserted and was placed on a ventilator while Freeman waited for his flight. It was not much after ten that night when he entered.
“That my 3-year-old son is being helped to breathe, when five days earlier, he was doing front flips and doing everything,” Freeman said. “It’s just, you just wish you could switch.”
Maximus was promptly diagnosed by CHOC medical professionals with Guillian-Barré syndrome, which is similar to transient synovitis in that it can be caused by a viral infection. He was then started on two rounds of intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG, therapy. The National Health Service states that healthy antibodies from donated blood are used to make IVIG. According to Freeman, the plan started to show results gradually.
Maximus initially began to shrug his shoulders. He had made enough progress by Wednesday to pass a benchmark.
“Wednesday at 10:46, I’ll never forget it, he had his ventilator pulled,” Freeman said. “We had PT there. And 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.”
Maximus smiled again at that. He became aware of the IVs in each of his hands and “was acting like he was Spider-Man,” Freeman said with a smile. “Anyone that came in, he would, ‘Pew!’ like he was shooting them.”
Maximus arrived home on Saturday evening. He will have to learn how to fully open his hands again because his fingers are still locked together. There is no set schedule. However, the promising indicators include sitting up straight without requiring a sideways tilt. Freeman expressed gratitude for the efforts of Dr. Jason Knight, the division head of pediatric critical care at CHOC.
“It’s been a miraculous recovery,” Freeman said. “That’s what they say to us.”
He praised the help he had from the Dodgers organization and other sources. Manager Pat Murphy of the Milwaukee Brewers and his team sent out unique videos expressing their support. Torey Lovullo, manager of the Diamondbacks, gave a call. Throughout the first 12 seasons of his All-Star career, Freeman was a member of “the full Atlanta Braves organization.” As he and Chelsea provided updates over the past ten days, more and more support came in from active and retired players.
Upon Freeman’s arrival at the ballpark on Monday, all Dodgers players and staff members were sporting the “#MaxStrong” shirts. General manager Brandon Gomes and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman urged Freeman to take as much time as necessary when he went on an emergency family leave. Before Freeman left the Dodgers, Dave Roberts had put his name in the lineup for all but three games. Roberts urged his star first baseman to disengage entirely.
“He was 100 percent present with his family and that was our advice,” Roberts said. “He needed to be.”
“Baseball is so far secondary when it comes to this,” Gomes said. “(We were) making sure we’re checking in on him as a person, not the baseball player.”
Last Tuesday, Freeman went on swings, seeking a reason to get up after his days of moving around the hospital and his nights spent curled up on the couch. Thursday, following Maximus’s withdrawal from the ventilator, once more. Over the weekend, he maintained his longest break from baseball since 2017. He and his father, Fred, worked out at El Modena High School in Orange, California, where he was a standout player in his early years. Freddie and Chelsea began talking about a comeback once Maximus was healed and on the path to recovery.
On Monday, with his oldest son Charlie by his side and tears in his eyes, Freeman returned wearing a shirt bearing his kid’s name. He was slated to bat third against the Philadelphia Phillies by Roberts.
“I know Dodger fans don’t like this, but I would gladly strike out with the base loaded in the bottom of the night 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.”
(Photo of Freddie Freeman with Jason Heyward: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Today)
