LOS ANGELES – Freddie Freeman singled and got a hug from Phillies star Bryce Harper in his return to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ lineup on Monday night after missing eight games to be with his ailing 3-year-old son, who is out of danger after a serious medical diagnosis.
“I’m back," he said before the Dodgers' 5-3 victory, "so that means good things are happening at the Freeman home.”
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Freeman received a standing ovation in his first at-bat. The Phillies joined the applause from their dugout. The pitch clock was stopped as he stepped out of the batter's box, removed his helmet and waved to the crowd, then touched his right hand to his heart.
“It means a lot that the Phillies were respectful of that situation,” Freeman said. “I wasn't expecting it, but very much appreciated from the Dodgers fans. They made it really hard to hit in that first at-bat, but that's a good thing.”
The response clearly moved Freeman, who took several deep breaths before stepping in against Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola.
“I was doing OK tipping my hat and then my dad was sitting first row with my stepmom,” he said. “He was, I don't know if I could call him crying, but he was choked up and teary-eyed and that's what really got me going.”
Freeman struck out swinging to end the first inning.
“It was one of the most potent strikeouts I've ever had in my big league career,” he said.
The crowd chanted “Freddie! Freddie!” before Freeman singled in the third. Harper was waiting for him with a consoling embrace.
“Bryce probably texts at least four times during the nine days, really checking in,” said Freeman, adding that every Phillies player who reached first extended well wishes to him.
“I'm tired and worn out,” he said, fatigue evident in his voice. “It's just an emotional day.”
After an initial diagnosis proved incorrect, Maximus Freeman was found to have Guillain-Barre syndrome, something Freeman and his wife, Chelsea, had never heard of. The rare neurological disorder occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system and causes nerve damage and muscle weakness.
“Seeing one of your kids on a ventilator fighting, it was hard,” Freeman said, his voice choking. “That's the heartbreaking thing. No one deserves to go through something like this. I know you parents understand that. You'd switch in a second to take that pain, that suffering away from your kid in a heartbeat. When you feel hopeless, like Chelsea and I did, that's hard.”
Speaking before the game, he cried at times and wiped his eyes and nose with a towel.
“If you talked to me six days ago, I would never have been able to speak,” Freeman said. “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, that’s what they say to us.”
Maximus first got sick during the All-Star break in July, when the family traveled to the game in Texas to cheer on Freeman. Four days later, the child couldn't sit up or walk and eventually stopped eating and drinking.
Freeman said his son experienced a loss of sensation that spread from his feet to his shoulders and had difficulty breathing.
He was rushed to the hospital near the family's home in Orange County and put on a ventilator. Maximus received two rounds of intravenous immunoglobulin, a biological agent and pooled antibody that helps restore a compromised immune system.
“Then it was a waiting game,” Freeman said.
He and Chelsea sat bedside in the pediatric intensive care unit for hours, staring intently at their son for even the slightest twitch.
“He started to shoulder shrug, which was a massive sign for us," Freeman said. “It means we were closer to potentially getting the ventilator out.”
Doctors were encouraged at how quickly Maximus’ paralysis retreated from the top to the bottom of his body.
“We ticked (off) the little wins we could get during this time,” said Freeman, whose mother died of melanoma when he was 10.
The ventilator came out “at 10:46, I'll never forget it,” he said. “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 is one of the Freemans' three sons. Charlie is the oldest, followed by Brandon and Maximus, a name Chelsea came upon.
“That was a strong name,” Freeman said. “I didn’t know it was going to be proven to be true within four years of his life of how strong this little boy is.”
Freeman was greeted Monday by his teammates and Dodgers staff members wearing blue #MaxStrong T-shirts with his last name and jersey number 5 on the back. Manager Dave Roberts said a team employee came up with the idea.
“That was the first time I cried today, when I walked in and saw those," Freeman said. “It means a lot.”
His baseball family reached out to Freeman during the crisis, including his current teammates, his former team the Atlanta Braves, and Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo.
“The support and the love that have been shown to us, it gave us hope,” Freeman said. “It was needed, it really was.”
Maximus is back home, doing physical therapy to relearn how to walk and move his fingers, which are in a claw position.
“You can see his smile again,” Freeman said.
The boy was eager to watch his dad play against the Phillies on Monday.
“We’ve been told that he’s going to make a full recovery,” Freeman said. “We just don’t know how long that will be.”
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