The “Love” singer reveals what led to his son’s recent health scare and how it’s changed their family

Life throws its share of curve balls, but John Legend says he’s got the perfect person in his corner to face them with.

The star, 45, who just released his new family album My Favorite Dream, opens up to PEOPLE in this week’s issue about his 6-year-old son Miles’ recent Type 1 diabetes diagnosis, and how he and wife Chrissy Teigen, 38, come together in the midst of trials.

It all started with summer camp, where “literally 80% of the kids got the same stomach bug within a day or two of each other,” explains Legend when Miles first felt ill. “I remember he was at the emergency room because of it and they checked his blood sugar. The thinking was, this may be a reaction to the infection or he may be diabetic. They did some more tests and decided it was the latter, that he was Type 1 diabetic.”

The news came as a shock to the whole family. “Chrissy was upset a little bit when she first heard it,” he says of his wife’s natural reaction to the diagnosis. Teigen confirmed the diagnosis shortly after posting a photo showing Miles wearing an insulin monitor during the family’s recent visit to Paris for the Olympics. Says Legend, “She’s been so good at learning what she needs to do.”