Emotional Freddie Freeman gets hug from Bryce Harper in return to Dodgers as ailing son recovers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — 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.”

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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Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman bats during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. Freeman has missed last eight games as his youngest son Maximus was diagnosed with Guillan-Barre syndrome. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman waves to the stands during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. Freeman has missed last eight games as his youngest son Maximus was diagnosed with Guillan-Barre syndrome. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman celebrates after hitting a double to score Nick Ahmed during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

Emotional Freddie Freeman returns to Dodgers as his 3-year-old son recovers from rare medical issue

FILE - Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman plays during a baseball game, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. Freeman and his wife Chelsea said in a joint social-media post that their 3-year-old son Maximus is suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Emotional Freddie Freeman returns to Dodgers as his 3-year-old son recovers from rare medical issue

Devices powered by lithium-ion batteries are overheating more often during airline flights and passengers often put them in checked bags that go into the cargo hold, where a fire might not be detected as quickly.

Overheating incidents rose 28% from 2019 to 2023, although such events remain relatively rare, UL Standards & Engagement said in a report released Monday.

E-cigarettes overheated more often than any other device, according to the report.

In 60% of the cases, the overheating — called thermal runaway — happened near the seat of the passenger who brought the device on board.

In July, a smoking laptop in a passenger’s bag led to the evacuation of a plane awaiting takeoff at San Francisco International Airport. Last year, a flight from Dallas to Orlando, Florida, made an emergency landing in Jacksonville, Florida, after a battery caught fire in an overhead bin.

More than one-quarter of passengers surveyed for the study said they put vaping cigarettes and portable chargers in checked bags. That is against federal rules.

The Transportation Security Administration prohibits e-cigarettes and chargers and power banks with lithium-ion batteries in checked bags but allows them in carry-on bags. The rule exists precisely because fires in the cargo hold might be harder to detect and extinguish.

UL Standards & Engagement, part of a safety-science company once known as Underwriters Laboratories, said it based its findings on data from 35 passenger and cargo airlines including nine of the 10 leading U.S. passenger carriers.

The Federal Aviation Administration reports 37 thermal-runaway incidents on planes this year, through Aug. 15. There were 77 reports last year, a 71% increase over 2019, according to the FAA numbers.

Considering that airlines operate about 180,000 U.S. flights each week, incidents in the air are relatively uncommon, and lithium batteries can overheat anywhere.

“We also know that one of these thermal-runaway incidents at 40,000 feet does present unique risks,” said UL’s David Wroth.

Those risks have been known for many years.

After cargo planes carrying loads of lithium-ion batteries crashed in 2010 and 2011, the United Nations' aviation organization considered restricting such shipments but rejected tougher standards. Opponents, including airlines, argued that the decision on whether to accept battery shipments should be left up to the carriers, and some no longer take bulk battery shipments.

The most common lithium-ion-powered devices on planes are phones, laptops, wireless headphones and tablets. About 35% of reported overheating incidents involved e-cigarettes, and 16% involved power banks.

Travelers use kiosks to check in for flights in the Delta Airlines ticketing area at the Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

FILE - In this June 19, 2014 file photo, baggage carts are towed to the Boeing 737 jet at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Ark., June 19, 2014. Devices powered by lithium-ion batteries are overheating more often during airline flights and passengers often put them in checked bags that go into the cargo hold, where a fire might not be detected as quickly. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File)