Former Brazilian soccer player Edson Arantes do Nascimento ‘Pelé’, hospitalized since last Tuesday, wished the Brazilian team luck in their match this Monday in the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar.
«I will watch the game from the hospital and I will cheer a lot for each one of you. Good luck!” Pelé wrote on Twitter, in a post accompanied by a photo of him strolling through a city in Sweden during the 1958 World Cup.
https://twitter.com/pele/status/1599790707580936192?s=48&t=-Nn4mPa4Om5hVmPczk5-ZQ
The Brazilian team plays this Monday against South Korea, in a match corresponding to the round of 16 of Qatar 2022.
Pelé is undergoing treatment for colon cancer and was hospitalized to evaluate a change in chemotherapy treatment, according to information released by the Sao Paulo hospital where he is hospitalized.
Upon being hospitalized, Pelé had a respiratory infection, for which he is receiving antibiotics, to which he is reacting positively, according to the medical bulletin released on Saturday.
The three-time world champion contracted covid-19 about three weeks ago, his daughter Kely Nascimento revealed in an interview on Globo television.
“About three weeks ago he contracted covid. He is vaccinated with all the vaccines, but because of the cancer drugs and chemotherapy he is fragile and he developed a lung infection. That’s why he went to the hospital,” Nascimento said.
According to the latest medical bulletin, released on Saturday, the former striker is still undergoing treatment and his state of health is “stable.”
“He has had a good response to care for the respiratory infection, without presenting a worsening of his condition in the last 24 hours,” the hospital said.
In parallel, the ESPN chain and the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper assured that Pelé no longer responds to chemotherapy sessions and that he has gone on to receive palliative care after the cancer detected in the colon spread to other organs of the body.
The family has vehemently denied this information.
“He is not in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). He’s in a normal room, he’s not at risk. He is under treatment,” said Flávia Arantes, also the daughter of the former Brazilian soccer player, who also participated in the report broadcast by Globo.
«It is very unfair that they start talking about that he is in a terminal state, in palliative treatment. It’s not that,” she added.
This latest hospitalization of ‘O Rei’ has generated a huge current of solidarity in the world of football that coincides with the World Cup in Qatar.
From that country, various tributes have been made to the former Santos and Cosmos player, while fans of the São Paulo club keep vigil outside the hospital in Sao Paulo asking for the speedy recovery of their idol.
