The health of Edson Arantes do Nascimento Pelé, diagnosed with colon cancer in 2021, has worsened and the latest news about his condition have put Brazil and world football on alert, which despite the efforts of the star’s family Brazilian on social networks, seems to be preparing for the worst news.
Pelé was hospitalized again to evaluate a change in the chemotherapy treatment he had been receiving since the colon tumor was detected in September of last year. Days later, the hospital reported that he was also treating him for a respiratory infection that, according to his daughters, he suffered as a result of a covid-19 infection.
Since then, Pelé has not left the hospital and the evolution of the 82-year-old ex-soccer player’s health is attracting attention in Brazil. Especially since last week he began to receive care related to “kidney and heart dysfunctions” and his family moved almost entirely to the hospital to spend Christmas with Pelé.
A stay that the Brazilian’s daughter, Kely Nascimento, has been in charge of narrating through her Instagram account for the peace of mind of the followers of the three-time Brazilian champion. However, on Friday night videos began to circulate on social networks with the alleged preparations for a tribute to Pelé at the home of Santos, the team in which he shone as a footballer, which triggered rumors about his death.
Although the club has not commented on the matter, it has announced that it will wear a crown stamped on its uniform to honor Pelé. “Santos will play in 2023 with the crown on the badge: the two stars (from their two Brazilian titles) and a crown at the top of the badge,” a club manager pointed out without going into more detail.
To clear up doubts, Kely Nascimento published a photograph embracing her father in the hospital bed and a message: “We are still here, in the fight and in faith. One more night together.” But the image and the words, far from appeasing the spirits of Pelé’s followers, make clear the anguish that the Brazilian’s family is experiencing in these difficult moments.
A supposed video of the star saying goodbye to his relatives that has gone viral does not help to calm the waters either, and the last family photo published by Pelé’s daughter does not either.
“Even in sadness, we can only be grateful. Grateful for being together, grateful for the love they give us, grateful to be here with him now”, he wrote next to a photo in which he appears with his brothers and his mother in the hospital room where Pelé was admitted, but The bed in which the former soccer player is under intensive care does not appear.
Pelé, soccer myth and legend, author of more than 1,000 goals and champion in three World Cups, has spent Christmas in the hospital. Although the health of ‘O Rei’ remained stable these weeks and he was responding well to the antibiotic due to the respiratory infection, the bad news puts Pelé back in the spotlight since the metastasis diagnosed at the beginning of 2022.