"For Max, his paralysis went really fast"- Freddie Freeman fights back tears as he opens up about 3-year-old son's battle with Guillain-Barre syndrome

Freddie Freeman faced one of the most terrifying moments of his life when his son, Maximus, fell seriously ill. He was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, forcing Freeman to step away from the Dodgers on July 26.

Maximus was paralyzed and had to be placed in the intensive care unit, but the three-year-old is now recovering well. Nevertheless, the incident has left a deep impact on Freeman.

The eight-time All-Star opened up about his son’s struggles with the disease:

“Max’s body fought the sickness and then started to attack its own nerves. It creates paralysis. It causes weakness in your legs, starts some tingling.

"But, for Max, his paralysis went really fast up from his toes up into his shoulders. It’s just, it’s a crazy syndrome. But he is getting better and all, thanks to those wonderful doctors and IVIG, what they gave him.”

After Max was discharged from hospital, Freddie Freeman made his return to the Dodgers on August 5. Freeman is now working on spreading awareness about Guillain-Barre syndrome:

“We are gathering that information, and obviously we are starting to do some stuff with GBS foundations and stuff like that. It’s more of information because a lot of people have never even heard of it. It’s super rare in kids.

“It’s more of just learning about it and have a keen eye if you have kids. You never know if you’re going to have this. So, just make sure you have all the information up to date, and as we get more and start doing more, Chelsea and I we will put more stuff out there when we get things rolling.”

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Freddie Freeman honors son Maximus with Players' Weekend Cleats

Freddie Freeman honored his son Maximus by wearing cleats with Max’s name and #MaxStrong written on them. He said:

“So pretty cool, I’m excited. I’m going to wear the cleats this weekend, and I’m going to start with Max today.

"Since today is my 2000th career game and he’s getting better. So I’m going with Max. But since I am a baseball player, if I don’t do well tonight, I’m going to switch bats tomorrow.”

Freeman wore the cleats during his 2000th career game on Friday. In 10 games since returning to the Dodgers, he has had a batting average of .317 with four RBIs in 41 at-bats.