According to a source, soccer star Pelé has been moved to a palliative care unit at a hospital in Brazil after chemotherapy for his colon cancer is no longer producing the desired results.
Over a year after the sportsman had a colonic tumor removed in September 2021 and just days after ESPN Brasil reported that he had been taken to Albert Einstein Hospital with “generalized swelling,” Brazilian daily newspaper Folha de S.Paulo broke the news on Saturday.
Pelé, who helped Brazil win the World Cup in 1958, 1962, and 1970, was “no longer responding to the chemotherapy treatment,” according to the Brazilian newspaper, and his chemotherapy was stopped so he could get “comforting treatment” for pain relief without “intrusive therapies.”
After being admitted to the hospital for a review of his chemotherapy treatment on Friday afternoon, the hospital reportedly issued a statement announcing that the celebrity had been diagnosed with a respiratory infection and was being treated with antibiotics.
According to a statement acquired by Folha, “The response has been adequate and the patient, who remains in a common room, is stable with a general improvement in his health.”
Following “plenty of panic in the media questioning” her father’s health on Wednesday, Kely Nascimento, Pelé’s daughter, provided an update. Nascimento, then 55, claimed at the time that some of her siblings were “visiting [her father]in Brazil” while her father was “in the hospital regulating medication.”
Nascimento assured supporters that she and her family “really and honestly appreciate the concern and affection” for her father and that she will be there for New Year’s Eve. She also promised to upload some images.
Earlier this week, Pelé, who is regarded as one of the best athletes in sports history, uploaded a picture of his face projected on a building in Qatar with the message “get well soon.”
I’m at the hospital paying my routine visit, friends,” he wrote. “It’s good to get encouraging remarks like this. Thank you to everyone who has sent me positive energy and to Qatar for this tribute!
The soccer great said in an Instagram post that he underwent in 2021 that routine tests revealed a “suspicious tumor” in his right colon. The post was initially written in Portuguese. Since then, he has had chemotherapy and various treatments both inside and outside of the hospital. He stated at the time, “I had surgery to remove a suspicious lesion in the right colon. “The testing I suggested last week turned up the tumor.”
Fortunately, I’m used to joining you in toasting big wins, Pelé said. “With a grin on my face, a lot of optimism, and excitement for living in the embrace of my family and friends, I shall confront this match.”