FILE - Brazilian Pele attends the 2018 soccer World Cup draw at the Kremlin in Moscow, Dec. 1, 2017. (AP)
Hospital Albert Einstein said in a statement on Wednesday that 81-year-old Edson Arantes do Nascimento is ``stable and expected to be released in the next few days.''
Pele's assistant Pepito Fornos told The Associated Press that Pele is having chemotherapy sessions to treat the tumor that was found during routine exams at the end of August.
Pele was briefly put in intensive care after surgery on his colon. He was discharged on Sept. 30, almost one month after being hospitalized, and doctors said he would begin chemotherapy.
Kely Nascimento, a daughter of Pele's living in the United States, posted a picture of one of his sisters and her father in hospital. Both were smiling.
``My father finished a procedure that was scheduled for months,'' Nascimento said. ``In two or three days he will go back home to enjoy Christmas.''
Pele had been recovering at his home in Guaruja, outside Sao Paulo. He published several videos and photos on his social media channels showing his health is improving.
The Brazilian's latest Instagram post was published Tuesday; a picture of him and another World Cup winner, Germany great Franz Beckenbauer.
Pele won the 1958, 1962 and 1970 World Cups and remains Brazil's all-time leading scorer with 77 goals in 92 matches.
Before his health scare, Pele had been staying out of the public eye following the cancer-related death of his brother, Jair, in March 2020.
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