Nick Cannon didn’t want his five-month-old son to go through rigorous chemotherapy.
The talk-show host opened up about why he and Alyssa Scott chose not to have their son, Zen, undergo chemo.
Cannon announced the tragic passing of his son, Zen, last week. The baby boy was diagnosed with a high-grade glioma, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer, at just two-months-old.
Nick Cannon opposed chemotherapy for 2-month-old son
Talking to People, Cannon said, “We started asking, ‘Is there a way to prevent this?’ If not, how long do we have?’ The conversations quickly turned to, ‘How can we give him the best life for the time that he does have?’ It could be weeks, it could be months, it could be years.”
Sadly, Zen only had a few months left before the cancer took his life.
Cannon explained he and Alyssa began having “quality of life” conversations when trying to decide if chemo was the right option.
Zen’s quality of life was the most important thing
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“We could have had that existence where he would’ve had to live in the hospital, hooked up to machines, for the rest of the time,” he explained. “From someone who’s had to deal with chemotherapy before, I know that pain. To see that happen to a 2-month-old, I didn’t want that. I didn’t want him to suffer.”
The TV personality underwent chemotherapy in the past to treat his Lupus.
Cannon and Alyssa ultimately decided the best solution would be to keep their baby boy as happy as possible in his final months.
“He was gasping for air,” he said. “We’d wake up, and he wouldn’t be breathing for maybe five to 10 seconds at a time, and then he’d let out a huge gasp. You could see it frightened him. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced.”
Nick & Alyssa didn’t want Zen to ‘suffer’
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“My heart is shattered,” Cannon exclusively told People. “I wish I could have done more, spent more time with him, taken more pictures. I wish I could have hugged him longer.”
Last week, Cannon shared the tragic news on his daytime talk show “Nick Cannon.”
“My goal is to make everyone smile every day and to forget about their worries, so at no moment did I ever think I’d be crying on live television,” he says. “I really believe you can’t heal until you feel.”
He shared that feelings “guilt” continue to set in.
Our thoughts are with Cannon, Alyssa and their families during this tragic time.
