Nick Cannon opted against chemo for late son: it wouldn’t have improved his ‘quality of life’
Nick Cannon is opening up about deciding against chemotherapy for son Zen ahead of the infant’s death from brain cancer last December.
The “Wild ‘N Out” creator and host, 42, and Zen’s mom, Alyssa Scott, were told chemo would “not really” allow the infant to live past the age of 3 or 4, he explained on Paramount+’s “The Checkup with Dr. David Agus,” according to People.
The “quality of life” for Zen, who was diagnosed with high-grade glioma and died at 5 months old, would also not likely be improved, said recently hospitalized Cannon. He has himself undergone chemo for lupus.
“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,” said Cannon.
“When we first went to the hospital, just to decrease his head from rapidly continuing to grow, there were a couple of procedures we were all for,” he recalled. “There was less pain on him and the procedure was quick. It was all about quality of life.”
Zen’s “interesting” breathing patterns came to his parents’ attention when the otherwise “healthy, active, always smiling” baby was roughly 2 months old, Cannon recalled.
“Being a father of multiple kids, it’s always the biggest guilt on me is that I don’t get to spend enough time with all my children, one ‘cause I’m constantly working and two because I’m just spread thin,” said the rather of at least 11 children with five women.
Cannon and Scott announced last month they are expecting their second child together.
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