The family of Pele have insisted that the football icon is not receiving end-of-life care.
Reports over the weekend claimed that the Brazil legend, 82, was receiving palliative care on a ward at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo having stopped responding to chemotherapy treatment for colon cancer, with an outpouring of tributes from around the world.
However, daughter Flavia Nascimento has now dismissed those claims, insisting they are not accurate.
“It’s pretty unfair people saying that he is in terminal condition, that he is under palliative care. Believe us: that’s not it,” she told Brazilian station Globo TV.
Sister Kely added that Pele was being treated for a respiratory infection after contracting Covid-19 three weeks ago and would return home once his condition improved.
“He is sick, he is old, but at the moment he is being treated for a respiratory infection and when he gets better he will be back home,” she said. “He is not saying goodbye in a hospital right now”.
Pele returned to hospital last week amid concerning reports that he was suffering from major swelling all over his body and decompensated heart failure.
However, his family and Pele’s official social media accounts stated that he was merely there on a monthly visit to have his cancer treatment re-evaluated and his medication regulated, with no new “emergency or dire prediction”.
The hospital later confirmed that he was being treated for a respiratory infection.
Pele’s health has been in decline for a number of years and last September he was in and out of intensive care after having surgery to remove a tumour from his colon.
He also suffered from a urinary infection earlier this year and was hospitalised with the same issue back in 2014. Pele has been unable to walk unaided for many years due to hip problems.
Regarded by many as the greatest footballer who ever lived, Pele was among the biggest 20th century sporting icons and remains the only player ever to have won three separate World Cups, with Brazil in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
He spent almost his entire club career with Brazilian giants Santos, netting 618 goals in 638 league appearances before finishing with a memorable stint in the United States with New York Cosmos.
Pele holds a world record for his astonishing career figures of 1,279 goals in 1,363 games including friendlies and is still Brazil’s all-time leading scorer, having notched 77 times in 92 caps between 1957-71 - two more than current Selecao talisman Neymar.
