Pele’s family have denied reports that the Brazil icon is receiving end of life care.
Flavia and Kely Nascimento, his daughters, said he was sent to hospital to treat a respiratory disease that was aggravated by Covid.
They insisted the 82-year-old was ‘not at risk’ after reports claimed he was transferred to end-of-life care at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo.
This led to messages of support from the global football community from the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Vinicius Jr.
The daughters thanked people for their concern and support but said he is ‘not ready to say goodbye’ and insisted he will ‘go home again’ as he recovers from his respiratory infection.
They dismissed reports that suggested he was in intensive care and said that Pele had been following Brazil at the World Cup in Qatar, even often having conversations with his grandson.
Kely said to Fantastico: “About three weeks ago he got Covid. He is vaccinated, with all the vaccines, but because of the cancer medicine, the chemotherapy, which is fragile, he got a lung infection.
“That’s why he went to the hospital, because of the lung infection. Is he serious? It’s serious, because he’s a certain age, he’s treating cancer.”
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Concern arose over Pele’s condition after it was reported by Folha in Brazil that the former football star was no longer responding to chemotherapy treatment that he had been undergoing since last September as he treated his bowel cancer.
Flavia Nascimento added: “It is very unfair for people to say he is in the end of his life, in palliative care. Guys, that’s not true. Believe us.
“He is not in intensive care, he is in a regular bedroom. He is not in risk, he is in treatment.”