On Sunday, Pele’s daughters told his fans that their father’s health is not in danger and that he will go home once he gets better from a respiratory infection.
The 82-year-old man has been in a hospital in Sao Paulo since Tuesday. He was diagnosed with colon cancer in September 2021 and is still getting treatment for it.
Kely Arantes Nascimento of Globo TV said, “Pele is sick and old, but right now he is in the hospital with a lung infection.” “And when he gets better, he’ll come home,” she said.
“We are not saying goodbye in the hospital,” she insisted, explaining that the sports legend’s respiratory illness was caused by a Covid-19 infection he got three weeks ago.
Pele’s sister, Flavia Arantes Nascimento, denied what the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo and ESPN Brazil said about Pele no longer responding to chemotherapy and only getting “palliative care.”
She told the news outlet that her father was not in the intensive care unit but in a regular ward, that the family was “tired of getting condolences,” and that the cancer treatment was “getting results.”
“It’s not fair to say that he’s getting close to the end of his life. That’s not true, trust us “She said. Early on Sunday, fans of Pele gathered outside the hospital in Sao Paulo where the three-time world champion is being treated.
More than 100 football fans prayed for the man who many people consider to be the best football player of all time. One fan, Marcos Bispo dos Santos, told AFP, “We are a spiritual force.”
He and other fans are praying for the sports star as he fights “one of the toughest battles of his life.” Doctors at Sao Paulo’s Albert Einstein Hospital said Saturday that Pele was still “stable.”
The statement said that Pele “has responded well to care, and there has been no change in his condition in the last 24 hours.” Later, the actress was upbeat in an Instagram post, where she wrote, “I want everyone to be happy and calm, my friends. I’m strong and optimistic, and my treatment is going on as usual.”
On Sunday, most of his fans stood outside the clinic in the western Sao Paulo neighborhood of Morumbi, holding a sign that said “Torcida Joven” and had a picture of a young Pele on it.
Several posters put up near hospital entrances said, “Long live the king!” Around noon, the fans got into a circle and said “Our Father” while holding hands.
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