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Nick Cannon opens up about son Zen's cancer diagnosis and their last days together

Cannon said he and model Alyssa Scott chose to "let God operate" instead of pursuing aggressive chemotherapy for their 5-month-old son.
/ Source: TODAY

Nick Cannon is opening up about the cancer diagnosis that led to losing his son, Zen, at 5 months old in December 2021.

The 42-year-old dad of 11 tackled the emotional topic in a new episode of the Paramount+ series “The Checkup with Dr. David Agus,” which premiered Dec. 13.

"It was a very quick birth," Cannon said of Zen, who he shares with model Alyssa Scott. "He was healthy, active, always smiling. He was a kid that just always smiled."

Cannon recalled that one day he noticed Zen had an "interesting" way of breathing, and wondered if his son was asthmatic, so he and Scott decided to take him to the doctor.

"We (also) noticed his head was a little larger, (but) all my kids have big heads," Cannon told Agus. "I was a big headed baby."

But when Scott and Cannon took baby Zen to the doctor, doctors noted that his head was larger than it should have been at at two months.

"That was the first sign that there was something occurring. They did a lot of tests. They didn’t let him leave the hospital," Cannon recalled. "And so you could imagine you think you’re taking your son in to get a checkup … I was thinking asthma, you know? And to know that he gets diagnosed with brain cancer ... that was a shock."

In August 2021, Zen was diagnosed with high-grade glioma, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer. Cannon said doctors used a shunt to drain fluid from Zen's brain.

"That, to me, made logical sense," Cannon explained. "There was less pain on him and the procedure was quick. It was all about quality of life."

Even with aggressive chemotherapy, doctors told the couple that the "best case scenario" was Zen living until age 3 or 4.

"They start talking about chemo and I was like 'OK, if we do this, does that extend his life? Is that less suffering?'" Cannon said. "And they were like, 'Not really.' Especially where his tumor was placed. It was in the center of the brain. They couldn’t remove it. It was so deep."

Cannon also revealed that because he was familiar with the effects of chemotherapy, having undergone the procedure to mitigate his lupus, he didn't want that experience for his infant son.

"I knew what that did to me and I knew how as a full grown man, that process ... my hair was falling out," he said. "I wouldn’t even call it pain, it just sucked everything out of you. I couldn’t imagine that on a newborn and what that would do."

Around Thanksgiving 2021, Cannon and Scott chose to focus on Zen’s quality of life.

"I wanted him to have the best existence he could possibly have. Why put him through more procedures?" Cannon explained, adding the couple agreed to "let God operate."

"We went to this space of wanting to enjoy him," Cannon said. "The amazing thing ... to the last weekend, he was the most vibrant, fun, crawling. His head was a little bit bigger than other kids, but other than that, there was nothing different about him."

On Dec. 5, 2021, Cannon and Scott spent their final day with Zen on the beach watching the sunrise.

"We had some beautiful moments," Cannon said. "We knew that the transition was coming. It happened a lot faster than we thought, but even that last weekend I kind of knew, 'This is going to be the last weekend.'"

He continued, "Luckily, we kind of did everything, from the sunrise and going to the beach and the sunset. We said some beautiful prayers and as a family really came together in a very beautiful way. I'm grateful for (those moments), but it was definitely tough to see a child suffering and watching things shut down — it was pretty intense."

Despite losing baby Zen at such a young age, Cannon revealed he "wouldn't change anything."

"His time here ... he had an amazing life and an amazing existence," Cannon said.

In November 2022, Cannon and Scott announced they were welcoming their second child.

“How good is God,” Scott wrote next to a black-and-white image of Cannon kissing her pregnant belly.

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