Nick Cannon, the host of day time talk show 'The Nick Cannon Show', lost his five-month-old son Zen, who he had with model Alyssa Scott, to a brain tumor. He broke down while revealing the details of the unfortunate incident directly on his show.
"I haven't even shared this with anybody. Not even the crew. Just because there is so much going on in the world. I had a tough, very tough weekend," he said at the beginning of the episode, which he dedicated to his "beautiful son Zen."
Talking about Zen's birth in June this year, the host said, "It was a great day, y'all know I got a lot of kids. Zen is my youngest. It was so exciting."
The child had been suffering from breathing issues since he was two months old. However, doctors had attributed it to the newborn's sinuses. They later found that Zen had some fluid building in his head. He had developed a condition called hydrocephalus and was eventually diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.
Although the newborn underwent surgery to drain fluid from his brain, his condition started to deteriorate around thanksgiving.
"At Thanksgiving, the tumor began to grow a lot faster, so we knew that time was coming," Nick told his studio audience. He also shared a video he posted on social media.
'The Masked Singer' host said he made a valid effort to spend the most quality time he could spend with Zen over the last weekend. "Holding my son for the last time, it was a beautiful setting," an emotional Nick added.
Hydrocephalus is defined as the buildup of fluid in the cavities deep within the brain. The excess fluid increases the size of the ventricles and puts pressure on the brain which can damage brain tissues and cause a range of brain function problems, according to Mayo Clinic.
It occurs most frequently in infants and adults over 60 years of age. Common signs and symptoms of hydrocephalus in infants include an unusually large head, a rapid increase in the size of the head, and a bulging or a tense soft spot on the top of the head.
