According to a medical report released on Wednesday, football legend Pele's cancer has progressed and he now requires treatment for heart and kidney problems.
The 82-year-old is in "elevated care" and will spend Christmas at the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, according to his daughter Kely Nascimento, who confirmed the news on Instagram.
"Our Christmas at home is on hold," she wrote. "We decided with the doctors that it would be better for us to stay here with all the care that this new family at Einstein provides us for a variety of reasons."
“We decided with the doctors that, for various reasons, it would be better for us to stay here,” she said, posting from Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in Sao Paulo.
She added, “We, as always, thank you for all the love you show here in Brazil as well as around the world! Your love for him, your stories and your prayers are a HUGE comfort because we know we are not alone.”
Pele has been fighting colon cancer since his diagnosis in September 2021 and was hospitalised three weeks ago after Covid aggravated a respiratory infection.