Braves star slugger Freddie Freeman battled the coronavirus a few weeks ago, and it was apparently quite the fight — dispelling the narrative that athletes feel little or no effects after being infected.
Freeman celebrated his ninth consecutive day without symptoms on Saturday, and has since tested negative twice, but it was quite the battle leading up to that point. There was a time when Freeman was so sick he feared for his life.
In fact, he once registered a fever of 104.5, and he even said a prayer, in hopes that he would survive the night, which he shared during a press conference on Saturday.
“The crazy thing is is, Friday morning I woke up in a pool of sweat, my forehead and it said 98.2. So I had no fever that morning, and that was 7:30 in the morning. So I went, since I couldn’t go to the field, I had to wait for that test, I went and threw, I hit, I worked out and I ran at my house and felt completely fine. By 2:00 p.m., it hit me like a ton of bricks.”
He continued:
“Friday night, that was the scariest night for me. I spiked to 104.5 fever. I said a little prayer that night, because, you know, I’ve never been that hot before. My body was really, really hot. So I said ‘Please, don’t take me.’ I wasn’t ready. It got a little worrisome that night for me.”
We’re glad that Freeman is feeling better now, and we wish him and his family the best going forward. And maybe we can use his story to serve as a cautionary tale for those around the world that still believe it’s safe to be interacting in public without wearing a mask.
