LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers activated first baseman Freddie Freeman before their home game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday.
Freeman returned after missing eight games on the family emergency list, his 3-year-old son Maximus now home from the hospital as he recovers from Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare neurological condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves. While there is no cure, most people fully recover.
“Max still has a long road ahead of him to regain his strength and relearn how to walk. But we are so thankful to have our family back together,” the Freemans said in a joint social media post on Sunday.
Freeman and his wife, Chelsea, noticed Max walking with a limp on the morning of Monday, July 22, and by that night, Max couldn’t walk. The symptoms, according to an initial visit to a doctor, were consistent with transient synovitis, which can cause a pain in the hip after a viral infection.
By that Tuesday, Max couldn’t sit up, and by that Wednesday night (July 24), while Freeman and the Dodgers were hosting the San Francisco Giants, Max had stopped eating and drinking and was taken to the emergency room. Doctors still suspected transient synovitis and recommended Tylenol.
Freeman played in an afternoon game against the Giants on Thursday, July 25, and he then traveled with the Dodgers to Houston that night for the start of an eight-game, three-city trip. But he rushed home the following day after Max’s condition “rapidly declined,” according to a family Instagram post, and he was sent to the emergency room.
By the time Freeman arrived at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, Max was experiencing paralysis, which was affecting his breathing, and he was placed on a ventilator and a feeding tube.
Max responded well, and his condition improved early last week. Within 48 hours of experiencing full-body paralysis, Max was excavated from his breathing tube and taken off a ventilator.
Freeman, an eight-time All-Star who had started every one of the team’s first 104 games, missed the entire road trip in which the Dodgers lost five of eight games at Houston, San Diego and Oakland.
But with Max now home from the hospital, Freeman returned to the team on Monday and was greeted by teammates and coaches who were wearing Dodgers blue #MaxStrong T-shirts with No. 5 Freeman on the back during batting practice before their series opener against the Phillies.
Get well soon, Max! We’re all rooting for you. pic.twitter.com/oEHplZd20L
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 5, 2024
Freeman entered Monday night’s game with a .288 batting average, an .888 OPS, 16 home runs, 26 doubles and 67 RBIs this season.
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To make room for Freeman on the roster, the team designated infielder/outfielder Cavan Biggio for assignment. Biggio, 29, hit .192 with three homers and 10 RBIs in 30 games for the Dodgers after being acquired on June 12 from Toronto. On the season, he hit a combined .197 with five homers and 19 RBIs in 79 games.
More to come on this story.