ASHLEY Cain’s daughter Azaylia has tragically died at just eight months old.
The 30-year-old dad told fans the heartbreaking news today, writing: “Rest in paradise princess. I will always hold you in my heart until I can hold you again in heaven.”
Azaylia’s mum Safiyya Vorajee added: “You are my Angel my heartbeat my soul, RIP my precious baby, you will always be with me like a handprint on my heart.”
The parents had been left devastated after doctors found more tumours and ran out of options to save his baby girl who was battling a rare form of leukaemia.
For weeks, doctors have said the brave baby girl could only have “days to live”, but Ashley and Safiyya refused to give up hope.
Yet despite all the love and hope in the world the brave couple’s sweet baby has been cruelly snatched away in the first year of her life.
The couple managed to raise over £1 million in less than 24 hours in a bid to get their daughter treated in Singapore.
Sadly they were told Azaylia’s tumours had spread and there was nothing more that could be done.
Azaylia touched the hearts of thousands of people in her short life and Rio and Kate Ferdinand and Molly-Mae Hague were among celebrities who gave thousands to her fund – which raised a staggering £1.5m.
On Friday, April 23, Ashley and Safiyya said palliative care nurses warned their baby girl might not survive the weekend.
The heartbroken parents have been making every second count with their daughter – and made sure she was showered with love and happiness in her final hours.
Safiyya wrote on Instagram: “Feeling the heartache more and more today, as the Nurses woke me up this morning for a home visit & told me to enjoy the weekend as they now think her body is slowly shutting down.
“Hearing these words, rips and tears my heart and soul into pieces watching my little girl get tired is painful, but giving her 100% everyday is what she was promised, even when her eyes are closed I talk sing and shake her fav rattles so she is constantly surrounded by a positive vibe.
“Appreciating the day the hour and the min is something I never thought I would do as we all take life for granted.”
Ashley added: “The fact of the matter is we make the most of her every day. i have got no plans for her going anywhere this weekend.
“I’m an optimist, I’m a believer. I’m in a positive mind-frame. I know her strength and I know mine. I ain’t thinking those things. I ain’t got no plans for this little girl to go this weekend. Let’s go champ, let’s go.”
At the time of Azaylia’s devastating diagnosis, Ashley revealed the news on Instagram and said: “Yesterday I had to go through something no parent in the world should have to go through
“The single most upsetting, terrifying and heartbreaking experience I have ever been through.
“I found out my beautiful daughter Azaylia Diamond Cain got diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive form of leukaemia which has come with many complications.
“Mummy and Daddy love you princess LETS GO CHAMP You CAN and you WILL beat this!”
Azaylia Diamond was born in August 2020.
Just two months after her birth she was diagnosed with leukaemia.
On April 8, Ashley revealed in a heartbreaking Instagram video that his little girl could only have “days to live”.
They decided to take her home from hospital to enjoy any remaining time they had with her.
He shared a short video of him sweetly kissing his little one’s head in her hospital bed as they prepared to bring her home.
He heartbreakingly wrote: “Last night in hospital before we take you home baby”.
Little Azaylia’s only option was palliative care after doctors realised they had run out of options to save her life.
Taking to Instagram, Ashley said: “So last week we had the bone marrow test and the lumber puncture and bloods taken to send to Singapore in the hope that they could create therapy to save Azaylia’s life.
“Then we had to have a CT scan on her head and the results came back the next day to say she’s got two very big tumours on her brain.
“They also said that the chemotherapy that is usually given to treat leukaemia in the spine or the brain will not be available because she has too much pressure with these tumours.
“If they tried to go through the spinal tap 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, it could even be that night.”
Ashley and his girlfriend Safiyya took their little girl home and they made it through the next two nights before deciding to take her off her pain relief as she “wasn’t really here properly”.
The decision saw Azaylia brighten up immediately, and the family renewed their hopes that they could get her to Singapore for treatment.
However, more bad news was to follow as the couple were told that doctors in Singapore would not be able to do the treatment as her disease is too rare, leaving them out of options.
Ashley said through tears: “We had a scan yesterday and the results came back today that they found tumours in her stomach and spleen, her lungs and her kidneys as well as the tumours in her brain and the chemotherapy is not working.
“Her disease is that aggressive that nothing that they are doing, nothing is working.
“And then to make it worse, consultants got an email from Singapore and because Azaylia is one in a trillion – she literally is she’s so special – but unfortunately so is her disease, so in Singapore they can’t create what they need to treat her leukaemia.”
Ashley added in the Instagram video that they had taken her home again to enjoy her remaining time together as a family.
He said emotionally: “For the last part of her life I just want to take her home. See her like a baby and give her the best rest of her life ever.”
He added that he needed to “step up” for his daughter and “be strong” as she “needs to see her daddy smiling.”
He said: “We are going to be strong and we are going to go out with honour.”
