Entertainment

More than £600,000 raised to help daughter of Ex On The Beach star

Ashley Cain’s daughter Azaylia Diamond was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia.
Ashley Cain’s daughter Azaylia Diamond was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia. Ashley Cain’s daughter Azaylia Diamond was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia.

More than £600,000 has been raised by the public to save the baby of former footballer and Ex On The Beach star Ashley Cain, as he tries to raise £1 million to cover costs for specialist cancer treatment.

Mr Cain’s daughter Azaylia Diamond Cain was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia when she was two months old.

He said he has spent the first seven months of fatherhood under Covid-19 restrictions in hospital as his daughter fought the cancer.

Doctors told the reality star and his partner Safiyya that chemotherapy would not be enough to cure Azaylia.

She had a successful bone marrow transplant after the couple made a plea to the public in November to register as a stem cell donor, which led to 41,000 people applying within 48 hours.

However, Mr Cain told his Instagram followers on Saturday that his daughter’s leukaemia had rapidly multiplied and she had gone into a full relapse.

He said doctors had told the couple they were left with only one option to save Azaylia’s life – to fly to Singapore for specialist one-year treatment.

He has set up a GoFundMe crowdfunding page, telling donors he needs to raise more than £1 million to cover the costs of treatment and accommodation.

Mr Cain wrote: “We don’t have time on our side and we may have to fly out within a matter of weeks.”

He said an initial deposit of £500,000 was needed to be accepted into the hospital and on to the programme.

Azaylia Diamond in hospital
Azaylia Diamond in hospital Ashley Cain and Safiyya’s daughter Azaylia Diamond was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia (Anthony Nolan/PA)

By Sunday afternoon, nearly 40,000 well wishers had donated more than £600,000 within 14 hours of the fundraiser being set up, with new donations every couple of minutes.

Mr Cain told donators: “We are on our knees asking for help to get us to Singapore.

“Please help us to save our beautiful daughter Azaylia, she has inspired not only us as her parents but so many other people around the world.

“If you have been following our journey you can see that she shows us all everyday how much she loves life and wants to be here.

“This is our first and only child and we’ve spent the first seven months of parenthood in hospital under Covid restrictions fighting a battle that no parent should ever have to face.”