Family gathers at hospital bedside amid Pele’s cancer battle

The family members of Pele have gathered at the hospital where the Brazilian football legend is being treated for worsening cancer.

The 82-year-old football icon, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, has been battling colon cancer since September 2021.

Pele was hospitalised at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo on November 29 as doctors continue to reevaluate his chemotherapy treatments.

On Christmas Eve, Kely Nascimento, Pele’s daughter, took to her Instagram page to share a photo of herself lying beside Pele in bed.

“We continue to be here, in fight and in faith. Another night together,” she wrote in the photo which also captured Sophia, Pelé’s granddaughter, in the background.

Edson Cholbi Nascimento, one of Pelé’s sons better known as Edinho, was said to have arrived at the medical facility on Saturday.

Last Wednesday, the hospital said Pele’s colon cancer was showing “progression”.

It added that the Brazilian legend needed “more extensive care to treat kidney and heart failure”.

In a chat with Fantastico last month, Kely also spoke about her dad’s battle with COVID-19 and a lung infection.

“About three weeks ago he got Covid. He is vaccinated, with all the vaccines, but because of the cancer medicine, the chemotherapy, which is fragile, he got a lung infection,” she said.

“That’s why he went to the hospital, because of the lung infection. Is he serious? It’s serious, because he’s at a certain age, he’s treating cancer.”

Earlier this month, the hospital said Pele was responding to treatment, “especially the respiratory infection.”

Regarded as the greatest footballer of all time, Pele rose to international fame at just 17 and led Brazil to three World Cup triumphs.

Photo credit: Instagram/iamkelynascimento