The "King" Pele and his fight against cancer

The disease that ended the life of the soccer legend "Pelé"

Edson Arantes do Nascimento "Pelé" or the "King" as he was commonly nicknamed is the most important soccer legend that has ever existed, cataloged by FIFA as "the greatest of all", throughout his career the King suffered several health odds, among which are in 2010 the nephrectomy of the right kidney due to a soccer injury, in 2012 the surgical intervention on his femur, in 2014 the serious kidney infection that led him to be dialyzed, in 2018 the hip surgery that He left with mobility problems and chronic pain, in 2021 his diagnosis of colon cancer and surgical intervention on said tumor and in 2022 the most serious of all, which weakened him more and more, the metastasis of his cancer.

Colon cancer, also called colorectal cancer, begins in the large intestine, which is the final part of the digestive tract; its causes are various and according to studies, it is not known exactly what causes it, however, most times it is caused by changes in the cells, specifically mutations in its DNA, in the same way it must be taken into account that people who have a family history of gastrointestinal cancer, who are of advanced, who have a sedentary life and bad eating habits, as well as underlying diseases and previous inflammatory and gastrointestinal conditions are more predisposed to suffer from this fatal disease.

However, studies ensure that when this type of cancer is detected at an early stage, there is a 90% probability that the treatment will be effective and the person will survive 5 years or more, and although that was what was thought to happen with the star of soccer Pelé, and even more, after performing surgery to remove his tumor and thus achieve a better quality of life for a longer period of time, that was not the case.

Despite the fact that post-surgery he continued his chemotherapy treatment, this was not effective and a metastasis of his cancer was generated in the intestine, liver and lung, complicating his current state of health, leading him to remain hospitalized and to go to palliative care. These being an aid focused on improving his health, relieving his suffering and optimizing his quality of life, due to the high risk factors such as: his age, renal and cardiac dysfunction due to previous procedures and underlying pathologies and the stage of his cancer.

Sadly, Pele "the king", lost his battle against colon cancer on December 29th of 2022, he will be remembered as the greatest soccer player of all time, and will live in the memories of those who love the game. thank you Pele.