Back with Dodgers, emotional Freddie Freeman details son's health scare - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — Freddie Freeman returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers early Monday afternoon — in the wake of a harrowing two-week stretch in which his 3-year-old son, Maximus, battled a rare neurological disorder — and saw new T-shirts adorning every locker. They were Dodger Blue, with Freeman's name and number on the back and the phrase "#MaxStrong" emblazoned on the front.

Moments later, all the Dodgers' coaches and players wore them during pregame workouts in solidarity with their star first baseman and his youngest child.

«That's the first time I cried today,» Freeman said. «It means a lot.»

Freeman's emotions returned during a 30-minute session with reporters as he detailed the pain of seeing his son suffer. Max was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a condition in which the body's immune system attacks its nerves, causing weakness, numbness and, in Max's case, paralysis.

Max woke up two Mondays ago with a slight limp and went into full paralysis four days later, prompting Freeman to rush home from a series in Houston. By the following Wednesday, July 31, doctors removed Max from his ventilator.

Five days after that, Freeman was back in the Dodgers' lineup for the start of a three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies, playing first base and batting third.

Max spent eight days in a pediatric intensive care unit before being discharged Saturday. The next day, he began physical therapy.

Max's personality is back, Freeman said, «but he's got to learn how to do pretty much everything.»

Most importantly, Max is expected to make a full recovery.

«He didn't deserve this,» Freeman said. «No one deserves this, anybody who goes through this. It's not just my family. We were going every night, and every room is filled