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SAO PAULO. — Brazilian football icon Pele will remain in hospital over Christmas after a medical report showed that his cancer has advanced.
The three-time World Cup winner has been in hospital for three weeks and doctors say he now needs care for cardiac and renal dysfunction.
His daughter wrote on Instagram that he would spend Christmas in the facility.
A statement issued by the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein said Pele “requires greater care related to renal and cardiac dysfunctions” because of the “cancer progression”.
His daughter pleaded for fans to pray for the three-time World Cup winner’s health during this troubling time.
Pele (82) has been battling colon cancer since September 2021 and was admitted to the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paul hospital on November 29 for doctors to re-evaluate his treatment.
His daughter said in an Instagram post that the support of his fans was a “huge comfort” to him.
Kely Nascimento wrote: “Your love for him, your stories and your prayers are a HUGE comfort because we know we are not alone.
“Let’s turn this room into a Sambadrome (just kidding), let’s even make caipirinhas (not kidding!!).”
Relatives said at the beginning of December that Pele was in hospital for treatment for a respiratory infection aggravated by Covid-19.
And the hospital treating Pele announced a “progression” on Wednesday in his cancer, as well as kidney and heart problems.
Pele is being treated in the general ward but “requires greater care related to renal and cardiac dysfunctions,” said the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo.
Considered by many to be the greatest footballer of all time, Pele was hospitalised in Sao Paulo on November 29 for what his medical team called a re-evaluation of his chemotherapy treatments, which he has been receiving since having surgery to remove a colon tumor in September 2021.
Doctors have also diagnosed Pele — whose real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento — with a respiratory infection.
Earlier this month, Pele’s daughters Kely Nascimento and Flavia Arantes sought to reassure fans about his health, denying reports that Pele had been placed in end-of-life care.
“Edson Arantes do Nascimento presents cancer disease progression and requires greater care related to renal and cardiac dysfunctions” a hospital statement said on Wednesday.
He was not in intensive care, it added.
Just minutes after the hospital announcement, Nascimento and Arantes said on Instagram their father would not be home for Christmas.
“Our Christmas at home has been suspended,” they wrote. — Sky Sports
Online Reporter