Pele’s family gathered at the hospital to be by his side

Family members of Brazilian soccer icon, Pelé are gathering at the hospital in Sao Paulo where he has been since November.

The 82-year-old global icon is currently warded at the Albert Einstein hospital in Brazil.

According to news reports, doctors said that Pelé’s cancer had advanced, adding the three-time World Cup winner is under “elevated care”.

Pele is being treated for “kidney and cardiac dysfunctions.” No other hospital statements have been published since.

Edson Cholbi Nascimento, one of Pelé’s sons and known as Edinho, arrived Saturday, one day after he gave a news conference to deny he would visit his father in hospital.

Edinho, who works for a football club in southern Brazil, had said that only doctors could help his father.

“He (Edson) is here,” Kely Nascimento, one of Pelé’s daughters, said in a posting on Instagram with a picture showing her sitting next to Edinho and two of his children at the hospital. “I am not leaving, no one will take me out of here.”

Neither his family nor the hospital have said whether it had spread to other organs.