"It has been an honour and privilege being your mommy."
**Content warning: This article contains details of child/infant loss.
Model Alyssa Scott has shared a heartbreaking tribute to her and Nick Cannon's late son Zen, who sadly passed away on Sunday.
On an episode of the Nick Cannon Show earlier this week, Nick announced that
the five-month-old had passed after being diagnosed with Hydrocephalus, in which fluids build up in the cavities of the brain and put it under pressure.
The infant was also later diagnosed with a brain tumour, he shared.
Alyssa took to Instagram on Wednesday to share an emotional video tribute to "sweet Zen".
The post contained a video montage of moments from Zen's tragically short life paired with the Jhené Aiko song 'Promises'. The mum also wrote a heartbreaking message to her baby boy in the caption.
"Oh my sweet Zen. The soreness I felt in my arm from holding you is slowly fading away," she wrote.
"It's a painful reminder that you are no longer here. I caught myself looking in the backseat as I was driving only to see the mirror no longer reflecting your perfect face back at me. When I close a door too loudly I hold my breath and wince knowing a soft cry will shortly follow. It doesn't come. The silence is deafening."
Alyssa then referred to the family being "in this race together" since she and Nick first discovered little Zen was sick during the summer.
"We would hand the baton off to each other," she continued. "You kept me going. It would be the middle of the night and you would smile at me. A surge of energy would fill my body and pure joy would radiate from within me.
"We were a team, both determined to see it through. It feels unbearable running without you now. I can't."
The mum then said that she is now being "carried" by her eldest child, a daughter, as well as "by God" and by "complete strangers encouraging me to not give up".
"It has been an honour and privilege being your mommy.. I will love you for eternity," she finished, along with the date he was born and the date he died.
During his announcement on the show, Nick shared that he and Alyssa had taken Zen to the beach one last time over the weekend.
The presenter had nothing but praise for his youngest son's mother, stating: "Alyssa was just the strongest woman I have ever seen. Never had an argument here, never was angry.
"She was emotional when she needed to be but was always the best mom and continues to be the best mom possible."
He continued to praise her and her strength on another episode this week, also sending "love to each and every mother who has ever had to lose a child".
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CXO5sEqgLme/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Our thoughts are with the entire family during this devastating time.
If you have been affected by the details in this article, you can call the Irish Hospice Foundation's Bereavement Support Line on 1800807077 (Mon-Fri, 10am-1pm).
