Nick Cannon's 5-Month-Old Son Zen Dies From Brain Tumor

Sydni Ellis
·3 min read
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Our hearts go out to Nick Cannon and Alyssa Scott, whose 5-month-old son Zen died from brain cancer and a tumor on Dec. 5. Cannon tearfully announced the news during the Dec. 7 episode of The Nick Cannon Show, in which he said this was “a special show dedicated to my beautiful son, Zen.”

Cannon and Scott took Zen to the doctor earlier this year, where the infant was found to have fluid building in his head and a malignant tumor. At just a few weeks old, Zen underwent brain surgery to add a shunt to drain the fluid. Afterward, he seemed happy and fine; however, toward the end of November, the brain tumor started to grow quickly, and Zen passed away on Dec. 5.

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“I’d always noticed he had a cough, and I just wanted to check it out,” Cannon said in the show. “He had this real interesting breathing, and by the time he was two-months old, I noticed he had a nice sized head — a Cannon head. We didn’t think anything of it. But I wanted to take him to the doctor for his sinus and breathing. We thought it would be routine.”

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He added, “Ultimately, it was cancer in the brain and the tumor began to grow a lot faster…This weekend I made a valid effort to spend the most quality time I could spend with Zen. We woke up on Sunday — I got to spend the weekend with him — and I woke up on Sunday and was like, ‘I feel like I want to go to the water.’ We got a chance to go to the ocean.” He got to see the sun rise and set with his baby and hold him on his last day.

In the video, Cannon also thanked his whole family and Zen’s mother, Scott, who was “the strongest woman I’ve ever seen” and “best mom possible” throughout it all. Scott shared beautiful photos and videos of Zen to her Instagram Stories on Dec. 7, after not posting a picture of him in a month.

“You don’t just go through it, you grow through it,” Cannon said. “I have so much faith in the lord, I have so much faith in God. People often tell me I should pray for miracles, and I did pray for the miracle — I prayed for the miracle of God’s strength and that’s why I’m here with you guys today. He puts the most and heaviest weight on the shoulders of his strongest soldiers so I’m here to show that I can fight through this. I’m feeling it, I’m vulnerable, I’m open, but I’m going to make it through.”

Zen was born in June 2021, the same month as Cannon’s twins, Zion and Zillion, with Abby De La Rosa. Cannon also has twins Moroccan and Monroe, 10, with Mariah Carey, and Golden, 4, and Powerful, 1, with Brittany Bell.

Sending our condolences to the family during this difficult time.

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