Nick Cannon explains why his son Zen didn’t go through chemo

It’s been a year since Nick Cannon and Alyssa Scott tragically lost their son Zen from a brain tumor. The host is always candid and vulnerable, and he recently opened up about their decision not to have the baby go through chemo.

Zen died when he was just five months old. Nick shared in the past they took Zen to the doctor for his sinus and breathing, which they thought would be “routine.” Unfortunately, they learned he had a cancerous brain tumor.

On Tuesday’s episode of The Checkup With Dr. David Agus, he said doctors told him chemo wouldn’t really extend his life or decrease his struggling. “They pretty much told me that best case scenario, your son could live to 3 or 4 years old,” he said. “Instantly when I heard that, I thought quality of life. I wanted him to have the best experience he could have.”

The 42-year-old has lupus and has gone through chemo himself. Nick said he couldn’t imagine the infant having to go through the treatment.

“I knew how as a full-grown man, that process … my hair was falling out,” Cannon 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,” he continued.

Following the death of their son, the parents revealed in November that she is pregnant again.