CNN
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Pele’s health has deteriorated and the Brazilian soccer player now needs more care due to the progression of his cancer, according to a statement released Wednesday by the Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital in São Paulo.
Pelé was admitted to hospital on November 29 for a respiratory infection and “reassessment of chemotherapy treatment for colon cancer identified in September 2021”, the hospital said at the time.
Now, Pelé “shows a progression of the oncological disease and requires greater care related to renal (kidney) and cardiac dysfunctions”, the hospital said on Wednesday.
The need for increased care means Pelé will spend Christmas at Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital in São Paulo, his daughter Kely Nascimento said in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
“Our Christmas at home has been put on hold,” Nascimento wrote. “We decided with the doctors that, for various reasons, it was best that we stay here, with all the care that this new family…Einstein gives us!!” adds Nascimento.
After Pelé was hospitalized in November, Nascimento explained that the former footballer had had Covid-19, although he had been vaccinated “in all doses”, and because the chemotherapy had weakened him, he had contracted a lung infection.
Pelé is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players in history.
He played in four World Cups, winning three – in 1958, 1962, 1970 – and scoring 12 goals in 14 games. He scored 1,281 goals during his professional career in 1,363 games.
