When Clay Aiken’s infant son, Parker Foster Aiken, was just four weeks old, the former American Idol singer was thrust into panic mode.
The baby, who had been vomiting with increasing frequency, had to undergo emergency surgery for an intestinal condition that complicates digestion.
“[Jaymes Foster, the baby’s mother] and I were trying to be calm, rational parents … so we didn’t call the doctors too much, but it got to a point where he was vomiting up everything,” Clay said. “He was starting to get dehydrated.”
At the hospital, Parker was diagnosed with pyloric stenosis, a condition that prompted doctors to decide he needed surgery the next day.
The prospect of his son in poor health made Clay Aiken’s personal decision to come out and admit that he is gay seem trivial by comparison.
“It was the first moment when I thought, ‘I’m actually this child’s father!’ This is now my responsibility, I need to take care of this child, and he can’t ask questions for himself. It was a reality check, like this is the real deal.”
As for Parker now, a beaming Clay says, “He’s fine, healthy and doing well!”