While spending Christmas by their father’s side at the Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital in So Paulo, the son, and daughter of Brazilian football legend Pelé have taken to Instagram to offer heartfelt tributes and images of their father. “We are still here, fighting and believing. one more joint evening, “Kely Nascimento wrote on Friday. Her words were displayed next to a picture of her cuddling up to her father, who was lying in a hospital bed. Sophia, Pelé’s granddaughter, is also visible in the image.
In addition, she posted a picture of her brother Edinho, a Brazilian football player and coach, who visited the hospital on Christmas Eve. Edinho held his father’s hand while writing, “Father… my strength is yours,” in an Instagram post. Nascimento announced earlier in the week that Pelé’s family would spend Christmas by his bedside in the hospital.
“Our Christmas at home has been suspended,” Nascimento wrote in a post
According to a hospital statement, Pelé, 82, was hospitalized on November 29 for a respiratory infection and “re-evaluation of the chemotherapy treatment over colon cancer detected in September 2021.” According to hospital updates from earlier this week, Pelé’s condition had gotten worse and he would now need more care as a result of the cancer’s growth. Since then, the hospital hasn’t provided any updates on Pelé’s condition. Nascimento has already expressed gratitude to well-wishers for their tributes and encouraging remarks.
“Our Christmas at home has been suspended,” Nascimento wrote in a post on Wednesday. “We decided with the doctors that, for various reasons, it would be better for us to stay (at the hospital), with all the care that this new family … Einstein gives us!!” added Nascimento. After Pelé was hospitalized in November, Nascimento explained that the former soccer player had had Covid-19, despite being vaccinated “with all doses,” and because the chemotherapy had made him more fragile, he contracted a lung infection.
Pelé, who was widely regarded as one of the best soccer players in history and was given the name Edson Arantes do Nascimento, participated in four World Cups, winning three of them (in 1958, 1962, and 1970), and scoring 12 goals in 14 games. In 1,363 games over the course of his professional career, he scored 1,281 goals.