Freeman wins health battle, earns offer

When attempting to balance life as a student-athlete, some hiccups are bound to come with the territory.

A loss of focus on schoolwork could be in the cards, as could fatigue from going back between studies and athletics.

Kobe Freeman’s hiccup was a unique one, but turned into a Fairfield comeback story for the ages.

The recent Fairfield High School graduate, who underwent numerous health crises over the past year, has turned his prowess on the court and dedication off of it into a signing with Clarendon College in northwest Texas.

Kobe was born with a basketball-ready name, and began playing at a young age. Basketball became his focus when he saw his potential.

“I realized that I could probably be really good at the sport, so I started taking it serious,” he said.

Playing for Mexia at first, Freeman’s family moved to Fairfield while he was in middle school.

When he first arrived in his new setting, he was nervous to put his foot forward in athletics.

“I didn’t really want to play sports for Fairfield at first, but around 7th or 8th grade I started talking to some more coaches,” he said.

“I kept being taller; I didn’t want to waste my talent. I just decided to try out and see if I liked it, and I ended up liking it.”

Freeman worked his way onto the varsity squad and was rolling through his junior season with the Eagles. Then, trouble began to strike.

It began in the squad’s final district game before playoffs, when Freeman suffered a broken ankle. He attempted to heal up and rehabilitate for the Eagles’ playoff run, but was unable to make it back in time. A deeper health issue began

A deeper health issue began to creep in during this time as well, which reared its ugly head at the beginning of March.

Originally thinking he was sick due to food poisoning, Freeman woke up one morning to quite a shock.

“I couldn’t move the lower half of my body. I couldn’t feel it moving.”

He told his mother, who immediately called an ambulance, transporting Freeman to Freestone Medical Center in Fairfield.

“I was like, am I dreaming or something?,” he said.

In his stay at FMC, Freeman was unable to find out what was particularly wrong with him, but was able to walk again after he received medicine. The fight wasn’t close to over,

The fight wasn’t close to over, however. It had just begun. After a few days in FMC,

After a few days in FMC, Freeman’s symptoms begun to get worse and he started to run a high fever. Due to the worsening condition, he was transported to Dallas Children’s Hospital for further evaluation.

Transported by ambulance once again, Freeman felt frustrated by the situation, with the first two nights in Dallas described as “pretty difficult.” “These doctors were asking

“These doctors were asking me questions that I didn’t know the answers to,” he said.

Freeman’s appetite was also reduced to the point where he “wasn’t really eating or drinking,” and if he would eat, it would only be a “nibble” before he put his food down.

During his stay in Dallas, Freeman’s doctors recommended him take a shower, which became the spot for a traumatic experience.

“When I got in the shower, I was standing up, and I started losing all strength in my body so I had to sit down,” he said.

Sitting with his older brother, Devin, Freeman began to notice more strange shifts in his body.

“My arm, it sounds crazy, but it was changing colors. I was like ‘that’s not normal’…[it was] like I [had] a rainbow going down my arm.”

With both him and his brother petrified of the situation, things quickly escalated.

“He saw my shoulder start jumping, and I had a full-blown seizure ten seconds after that.”

After the incident, Freeman woke up in the Intensive Care Unit, with doctors surrounding the patient.

Eventually, a scan returned, showing that a blood clot had formed in the right side of Freeman’s head from the back, due to severe dehydration and malnourishment.

When the blood clot had burst, Freeman suffered a stroke, with the seizure as an after-effect.

Doctors later confirmed that Freeman was suffering from Chron’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects the lining of the digestive tract. The disease is rare, with fewer than 200,000 annual cases in the United States, but can have life-threatening complications.

“I had a similar experience my sophomore year of school, but I thought it was because I ate something bad,” Freeman said. “I thought it was salmonella poisoning. That’s what the hospital claimed the first time. But that was my first flare-up of my Chron’s.”

In the aftermath of his stroke and Chron’s diagnosis, Freeman was subjected to many tests, including ultrasounds, EKG testing and constant heart monitoring.

The entire left side of Freeman’s body remained mostly disabled, requiring intense physical therapy. For the rehabilitating Freeman, just the process of learning how to walk again was a struggle.

“Every time I would walk, I would get extremely dizzy.”

It took him weeks to begin walking, using an aid in the form of a walking belt. “Taking my first steps again after my stroke was so weird,” he remembered.

Throughout the spring and summer, Freeman would continue his therapy, focusing on small tasks and regaining his weight after losing roughly 50 pounds.

“Day by day, I would get little stuff [done],” he said. “I would walk to my mailbox, which is right outside, or just be up walking around and trying to get weight put back on me.”

Meanwhile, news of Freeman’s illness had spread through Fairfield, with the student-athlete fondly recalling residents “showing love” by checking up on him.

“It was pretty traumatizing,” he said. “It was just something crazy to go from being fine one week, and then everything changing in a month. It was pretty difficult, but I had the whole town behind me, supporting me to get better.”

The patient began to improve slowly but surely, leading to a night when Freeman went out for a jog. Being able to jog without feeling dizzy and lightheaded, Freeman then had his sights set on FHS’ spring sports banquet, which he attended with no issues. During the rehab process,

During the rehab process, Freeman would continually ask his doctor about basketball activities, wanting to get back on the floor. To finally get cleared, Freeman’s reflexes were tested, including having to shake his head and walk with his eyes closed.

The doctor was concerned after Freeman’s first try at the task, but Freeman performed well on the second test.

At that time, Freeman’s doctor cleared him to begin running and doing activities with limited contact.

Despite being cleared, the athlete had a lot of work to do to get into “basketball shape,” and would use his time in offseason workouts to work on cardio.

“It definitely took time, my first week of running I would get major headaches and get tired really quickly,” he said. He kept at it, though, with

He kept at it, though, with improved results each time he stepped into practice.

“It was a struggle at times, he didn’t like it much at the start, but eventually he came around...physically, he was getting back in shape and he finally kind of understood what we were trying to do and embraced it,” FHS head coach Cannon Earp said.

After a few weeks of getting his wind back, Freeman was almost back in basketball form, but hadn’t tested everything quite yet. Attempting spin moves on the court was particularly tough, as he would feel lightheaded and would lose track of the ball.

“For the longest time I didn’t do it because I was scared to see what would happen…our first scrimmage, I did it, and nothing happened,” he said. “When that happened, then I knew, okay, I’m 100 percent.”

100 percent may have been an understatement, as Freeman’s play far exceeded someone who was fighting for his life just months prior. Selected as the Eagles’ overall team MVP, as well as selected for 1st Team All-District honors, Freeman averaged 17 points and 12 rebounds a game for the 19-13 squad.

“I feel like from the beginning, he knew it was his team,” Earp said. “I also think he played with a new perspective. There were times early in his career where he may have lacked a little bit of a motor, but this year, especially early on, he’s diving on the floor going for loose balls and I’m like ‘who is this?’ I attribute that to kind of playing with a new perspective after being sick.”

The Eagles’ run came to an end in the Area round of the 4A Region 1 & 3 tournament. “The main thing I focused on was trying to be a leader for my team,” he said.

The successful comeback story was not finished with the end of Freeman’s high school career, however. The new graduate is now signed to Clarendon and will be under the tutelage of coach Hunter Jenkins, who spent part of the 2019-20 college season as an assistant with the University of Buffalo.

“[Coach Jenkins] told me he liked what I could do, had heard all good things about me,” Freeman said. “On that night, he pretty much offered me...he made me seem like I was a priority.”

Freeman will be hoping to put on more weight this summer to help handle the phyiscality of the college game.

“He just wanted a chance to play,” Earp said. “He has an interesting skill set, being 6’6” but also has the ability to shoot the ball, he’s a really good passer for a guy that height.”

Now that his basketball future is no longer in doubt, Freeman will take time to focus on his health, and has already made changes to help deal with his Chron’s affliction. For example, Freeman had to change his diet completely, taking out spicy foods.

His top snacks of choice, including hot lemon lime Cheetos, had to be axed.

Looking back at his past year, though, Freeman is glad he stuck to making the neccessary adjustments.

“I would say to always have faith and hope, and don’t give up,” he said. “There was a point where I was like, this is too hard, I’ll never be the same, so what’s the point of trying? But, I’m glad I did.”