Christmas Eve Pele At The Hospital With His Family

Pele. (AFP/MAURO PIMENTEL)

JAKARTA - Brazilian football legend Pele, who is being treated at a Sao Paulo hospital with severe cancer and kidney and heart problems, was visited by his family members on Christmas Eve Saturday.

According to a social media post by his daughter Edinho, quoted from Antara Sunday, December 25, Pele's son - recently appointed coach of Serie B football club Londrina, based in Parana in northern Brazil - arrived at Christmas Eve at the Sao Paulo medical center, where he joined his sisters Flavia and Kely Nascimento.

He posted an Instagram photo of him holding the hands of the football star, writing him: "Father... My sister is yours."

The former goalkeeper arrived a day after explaining his absence by his father's side to local media.

"I want to be here, but I am committed to my job here. I am not a doctor, I can't help much," he said in an interview published on Friday by the Estadio daily.

On the same day, Kely shared a photo of herself hugging her 82-year-old father in hospital with the caption "one more night together".

On Wednesday, Albert Einstein Hospital, where the World Cup's three-time winner is being treated, announced that colon cancer is showing "development" and he needs "an extensive treatment to treat kidney and heart failure."

Earlier that day his daughter had announced she would not be home for Christmas.

A calm atmosphere was seen outside the hospital on Saturday, according to AFP.

Pele is considered by many to be the greatest footballer of all time and has received several messages of support since being hospitalized, including from French star Kylian Mbappe, who asked his followers to "pray for the King".

Pele was hospitalized in Sao Paulo on November 29 for what his medical team called a re-evaluation of chemotherapy treatment, which he has been undergoing since undergoing surgery to remove colon tumors in September 2021.

"Since 2013, through the Center for Conservation of Cultural Heritage and the West Sumatra Culture Service, approximately 800 cultural works have been registered," he said.