Nick Cannon has explained why his late son Zen Cannon didn’t undergo chemotherapy.
During an appearance on Tuesday’s episode of The Checkup with Dr David Agus, the television personality reflected on his and Alyssa Scott’s decision to forgo chemotherapy for their son Zen after discovering their baby had brain cancer.
Zen died in December 2021 of the condition, at five months old.
The Drumline star recalled, “Seeing your son hooked up to all of those machines - and he had to go for a shunt two or three times, and that was heartbreaking every time - even in that short amount of time, I couldn’t imagine him having to go through chemo.”
Alyssa and Nick reportedly realised chemotherapy would “suck everything out” of their baby, with doctors telling them the “best case scenario” was for Zen to live for “three or four years”. Nick also said doctors told the couple the treatment would “not really” extend the child’s life.
In the end, they wanted to prioritise Zen’s “quality of life” and give him the “best existence he could have” in the time they had left.
Nick reflected on his own journey of undergoing chemotherapy for his lupus and what treatment would have been like for Zen.
“My hair was falling out. I wouldn’t even call it pain; it just sucked everything out of you,” he revealed, adding, “I couldn’t imagine that on a newborn and what that would do.”