Ex on the Beach’s Ashley Cain shares tragic news after raising £1.4million for daughter Azaylia’s cancer treatment

"Our world came down"

ashley cain azaylia tumour

by Lucy Smith |
Updated on

Ashley Cain has taken to social media to update followers on the status of his daughter Azaylia's health after it was revealed last month that the seven month old would need to be flown for Singapore for specialist cancer treatment.

Azaylia was diagnosed with aggressive leukaemia at just eight weeks old and, after discovering the extent of the treatment required to save her life, dad Ashley launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise the money required for the expensive therapy.

In less than 24 hours, Ashley and girlfriend Safiyya Vorajee had raised over £1million and smashed their target but, now, less than two week's later, the former Ex on the Beach star has revealed that their little one won't be well enough to undergo the treatment.

Speaking to followers on his Instagram, the 30 year old said, "Where do I start.

"We had to have a CT scan on Azaylia's head. The results came back the next day saying that Azaylia's got two very big leukaemic tumours in her brain.

"They also said that the chemotherapy that's usually given to treat leukaemia in the spine and on the brain will not be available. If they tried, it would kill her.

"At that point, our world came down. Consultants said that they think she's only got one, two days to live."

Ashley explained that, after his daughter's terminal diagnosis, they then decided to move her back home with the hospital's palliative care team. Following two nights at home, the former reality star admitted that "Azaylia wasn't really here properly."

He continued, "As a parental instinct, we took her off the pain relief and the next morning she was bright as a button, she was responding to absolutely everything and we thought, this disease is not killing our daughter, we need to do everything we can do to save this little girl's life."

After deciding to continue treatment, Ashley, Azaylia and Safiyya returned to hospital and, following a conversation with consultants there, they considered starting radiotherapy to target the tumours on the little one's brain.

"And then," he said, "We had an ultrasound scan yesterday and the results came back today. They found tumours in her stomach, her spleen, her lungs, her kidneys - as well as the tumours in her brain.

"The chemotherapy is not working. Her disease is that aggressive that nothing they are doing is working."

Pushing back tears, the footballer added that doctors in Singapore have now confirmed that Azaylia's specific cancer is so rare, they won't be able to produce the CAR-T therapy she needs.

He said, "That means that we're going back home, and we're going to try and make our baby as comfortable as possible and we're gonna have as much fun as we can with her.

"We're gonna be strong, and we're gonna go out with honour.

"I've been strong the whole way through this, but this last week I've been numb, I've been upset, I've been sad, I've been depressed, I've been heartbroken. There's some days I don't even know where I am, but I think right now I've got to step up more than ever - I'm doing it for her, because she needs to see her daddy smiling."

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Naturally, followers flocked on mass to support to Ashley and his family, with Mrs Hinch, Shaughna Phillips and Charlotte Crosby just the tip of the iceberg among the 50 thousand plus comments.

"I’m so sorry bro 💔 That beautiful baby of yours couldn’t have wished for better parents than she has. My heart breaks for you, I truly do send every bit of love and strength to you & your family ❤️," wrote dad of three Dan Osborne.

Meanwhile, on Safiyya's social media, the 33 year old wrote, "There isn’t enough words out there to describe the heartache & pain I’m feeling but I’m incredibly honoured to have become a mummy to my precious girl ❤️."

Our thoughts are with Ashley and his family at this time.

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