Nick Cannon has explained the reason why he and his late son Zen's mother Alyssa Scott chose not to treat the child with chemotherapy.
Cannon, 41, revealed the tragic news that his five-month-old son Zen died after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor on the most recent episode of The Nick Cannon Show on Tuesday, December 7.
While speaking with People about Zen's life and illness, Cannon recalled how the baby’s breathing had suggested something was off shortly after he was born in June.
"We started asking, 'Is there a way to prevent this? If not, how long do we have?'" Cannon said.
"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."
Cannon and Alyssa Scott brought their son to the doctor when they realized he had irregular breathing.
At 2 months old, the baby was diagnosed with brain cancer. Doctors placed a shunt in the infant's skull to drain fluid, but the tumors in his head continued to grow.
Watch Nick Cannon open up about his special tribute to Zen:But the parents decided not to subject Zen to chemotherapy.
"We were having quality-of-life conversations," he said. "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."
"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," said Cannon, who has lupus and has taken a chemo drug to treat it.
Cannon said he and Scott's priority was making sure Zen was "as happy as he could possibly be."
"We focused on Disneyland, our favorite place," Cannon continued. "Every month we would celebrate his birthday, just really seeing it as a victory every time he had a milestone that he was still here with us."
"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," Cannon added.
Cannon shares 10-year-old twins, Moroccan and Monroe Cannon, with singer Mariah Carey; son Golden, four, and daughter Powerful Queen Cannon, 11 months, with Brittany Bell; and 5-month-old twins, Zion Mixolydian Cannon and Zillion Heir Cannon, with Abby De La Rosa.