Nick Cannon mourns loss of youngest child to brain cancer

US singer and TV show host Nick Cannon is mourning the loss of youngest child due to a medical ailment.

He revealed on his eponymous show that his five-month-old son Zen died due to a brain tumour.

“Over the weekend I lost my youngest son to a condition called hydrocephalus that was pretty much a malignant, invasive midline brain tumour, brain cancer,” Cannon said. “It’s tough.”

He spoke about how his son with model Alyssa Scott was taken to the doctor when he was two months old because they noticed he had a large head.

“He had this real interesting breathing and by the time he was two months old I noticed... he had this nice sized head, I called it a Cannon head. We didn’t think anything of it, he had a normal Cannon head. But I wanted to take him to the doctor to get the breathing and the sinus thing checked out. We thought it would be a routine process,” he said.

However, doctors found that Zen had fluid building up in his head and he had a malignant tumour that needed surgery. The surgery was conducted and a shunt was placed.

“Zen’s mom, Alyssa, was just the strongest woman I’ve ever seen. Never had an argument, never was angry. Was emotional when she needed to be but always the best mom, and continues to be the best mom,” Cannon added.

Zen’s health deteriorated around Thanksgiving as the “tumour began to grow a lot faster.” Cannon said he spent time with his son in California before having to travel to New York for his show and that was the last weekend they spent together.

Zen was Cannon’s seventh child and was born days after the singer welcomed twins Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir with another woman, Abby De La Rosa, in June.

Cannon also had two children with Brittany Bell. The star’s most famous children are the twins he had with ex-wife and music icon Mariah Carey.