Pelé’s relatives gathered around the former footballer on Christmas Eve.
Relatives of Pelé met on Saturday, Christmas Eve, with the Brazilian football legend whose state of health has recently deteriorated, according to their posts on social networks.
Pelé, 82, who suffers from colon cancer discovered in September 2021, has been hospitalized in Sao Paulo since the end of November and his doctors had reported on Wednesday a “progression” of his cancer as well as a “kidney and heart failure“.
After midnight in Brazil, Kely Nascimento, one of Pelé’s daughters, posted a photo on Instagram featuring the ex-footballer’s current wife, Marcia Aoki, and other family members in hospital Albert Einstein, where the ex-footballer is hospitalized, but without him.
“Almost all. Merry Christmas. Gratitude, love, union, family. The essence of Christmas. We thank you all for all the love and light you send us“wrote Kely Nascimento in the caption of this photo.
His son Edinho had earlier posted a photo on the same social network where he takes Pelé’s hand, with the caption: “Dad my strength is with you“.
Edinho, technical director of the Londrina football club, in the southern state of Parana, joined two of his sisters, Flavia and Kely Nascimento, at the Albert Einstein hospital on Saturday, who have been very present with Pelé in recent days.
“He arrived“, wrote on Instagram Kely Nascimento in the caption of photos on which appear Edinho and his daughters, Sophia and Stephany Nascimento.
Edinho made the trip despite having apologized the day before for not being able to be with his father. “I would like to be there, but today I have commitments here. I’m not a doctor, I couldn’t be of much help“, he told the daily Estadao on Friday.
Late Friday, Kely Nascimento had posted, still on Instagram, a moving photo of Pelé and her, embracing, him on his hospital bed, only half of his face visible, equipped with nasal cannulas for respiratory assistance. “One more night together“, said the caption, “we are still there, in the fight and in the faith“, she had written.
Just before the publication of an alarming health report from Pelé on Wednesday, his two daughters had announced that they would spend Christmas in hospital with the legendary ex-attacker, “for various reasons“.
No particular activity was notable on Saturday outside the Einstein Hospital, where only a few journalists were waiting for news of the only footballer to have ever won the World Cup three times (1958, 1962, 1970), noted theAFP-TV.
Pelé was admitted to hospital for a respiratory infection following Covid contamination, and for a reassessment of his cancer treatment, the chemotherapy he was undergoing having apparently been ineffective.
The man who many consider to be the greatest footballer of all time has received many messages of support since his hospitalization, in particular from French star Kylian Mbappé, who called for “pray for the king“.