Earlier this year, Nick Cannon welcomed his first child with Alyssa Scott. The pair named their baby Zen and were clearly thrilled with his arrival, with mom Alyssa sharing photos of the baby boy on her Instagram account.
On December 7, Nick revealed that his 5-month-old son had died from brain cancer. The tumor was first diagnosed when Zen was 2 months old, and it grew rapidly.
Nick broke the news on his show. He also shared that he took Zen to the doctor, saying, "I always noticed he had a cough and so I wanted to check it out. He had this interesting breathing and by the time he was two months I noticed he had this nice-sized head too — a Cannon head."
He added that at first, it didn't seem like a big deal: "We didn’t think anything of it. But I wanted to take him to the doctor for his sinus and breathing. We thought it would be routine."
Sadly, Zen was soon diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, and his condition began to deteriorate. Nick says it recently became clear that Zen wasn't doing well. "This weekend I made an effort to spend the most quality time with Zen," he explained. "We woke up on Sunday and went to the ocean with him and Alyssa and then I had to fly back to New York for the show."
He ended up turning back around. Nick said, "I got a call on my way to the airport to head back to Zen."
Nick also shared that he returned to work to celebrate his son's life, though he plans to take time off to mourn.
