Brazilian legend Pele has been taken off intensive kidney treatment. A statement from the Albert Einstein Hospital described the 74-year-old as “lucid” and “doing well”, but “still in intensive care”.
The 74-year-old was described as “lucid” and “doing well”, but “still in intensive care”. Pele had been undergoing haemodialysis, a procedure that involves filtering a patient’s blood through an artificial kidney that cleans it before returning it to the body.
Certain local media had been reporting since Thursday night that ‘O Rei’ (The King) was suffering from septicaemia after not responding to the antibiotics and described his condition as “delicate”.
Pele, whose real name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, is widely regarded as the greatest player of all time. He was admitted to hospital on Monday, diagnosed with a urinary infection and given intravenous antibiotics.
On Thursday, the hospital said he had been placed in intensive care after his condition became “clinically unstable,” causing widespread alarm. But Pele insisted on social media that he was fine and had simply been moved to another room for more privacy. “I want to take this opportunity to let you know that I am doing fine,” he said in posts to his Facebook and Twitter accounts.
“I am blessed to receive your love and support, and thank God this is nothing serious. “I was simply relocated to a special room within the hospital for privacy purposes only. While I appreciate all the visitors that came to see me, I really need to continue my treatment and recovery in peace.”
Pele initially underwent surgery for kidney stones at the same hospital on Nov 13.
ABOUT THE PERSON, PELE,
Edson Arantes do Nascimento, also known as Pelé, was born inside of October 1940, is a retired Brazilian professional footballer who is widely regarded to be the greatest player of all time. In 1999, he was voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). The same year, France Football asked their former Ballon d’Or winners to choose the Football Player of the Century; they selected Pelé. In 1999, Pelé was elected Athlete of the Century by the IOC, and Time named him in their list of 100 most influential people of the 20th century. In 2013 he received the FIFA Ballon d’Or Prix d’Honneur in recognition of his career and achievements as a global icon of football.
According to the IFFHS, Pelé is the most successful league goal scorer in the world, with 541 league goals. In total Pelé scored 1281 goals in 1363 games, including unofficial friendlies and tour games, for which he was listed in the Guinness World Records for most career goals scored in football. During his playing days, Pelé was for a period the best-paid athlete in the world. In his native Brazil, he is hailed as a national hero, for his accomplishments in football, and for his vocal support of policies to improve the social conditions of the poor. In 1961, Brazil President Jânio Quadros had Pelé declared a national treasure. During his career, he became known as “The Black Pearl” (Pérola Negra), “The King of Football” (O Rei do Futebol), “The King Pelé” (O Rei Pelé) or simply “The King” (O Rei).
Pelé began playing for Santos at 15 and the Brazil national football team at 16. He won three FIFA World Cups: 1958, 1962 and 1970, the only player ever to do so; and is the all-time leading goalscorer for Brazil with 77 goals in 92 games. At club level he is also the record goalscorer for Santos, and led them to the 1962 and 1963 Copa Libertadores. Pelé’s electrifying play and penchant for spectacular goals made him a star around the world, and his club team Santos toured internationally in order to take full advantage of his popularity.
Since retiring in 1977, Pelé has been a worldwide ambassador for football and has undertaken various acting roles and commercial ventures. In 2010, he was named the Honorary President of the New York Cosmos.
