(Sao Paulo) Members of the family of the great Brazilian soccer player Pelé gather at Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo where the 82-year-old world icon has been since the end of November.
Doctors said earlier this week that Pele’s cancer had progressed, adding that the three-time World Cup winner is in “high care” linked to “kidney and heart dysfunction”. No further statement from the hospital has been released since.
Edson Cholbi Nascimento, one of Pele’s sons and known as Edinho, arrived on Saturday after giving a press conference to deny he would visit his father in hospital. Edinho, who works for a soccer club in southern Brazil, said only doctors could help his father.
” He [Edson] is here,” said Kely Nascimento, one of Pele’s daughters, in a post on Instagram with a photo showing her sitting next to Edinho and two of his children in hospital. “I’m not leaving, no one will get me out of here. »
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known to the world as Pelé, had a colon tumor removed in September 2021. Neither his family nor the hospital have said if it had spread to other organs.
Kely Nascimento and his sister Flavia Arantes do Nascimento took to their social media on Friday night to post an undated photo of Pelé apparently holding Kely with one hand as he lay in his hospital bed and Flavia slept on a couch .
“We continue to be here, in this fight and with faith. Another night together,” Kely Nascimento wrote.
The hospital did not mention any signs of Pele’s recent respiratory infection, aggravated by COVID-19.
The newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported last weekend that Pelé’s chemotherapy was not working and doctors had decided to place him in hospice care. Pelé’s family denied this information.
Pelé led Brazil to victory in the 1958, 1962 and 1970 World Cups and remains one of the top scorers in team history with 77 goals. Neymar equaled Pelé’s record at the last World Cup.