Ashley Cain has revealed he is preparing to become a dad again for the second time.  

The news comes two years since his beloved eight-month-old daughter Azaylia died in his arms after battling a rare form of cancer.

His baby girl, who he shared with then partner Safiyya Vorajee, was diagnosed with with acute myeloid leukemia at eight-weeks-old and had tumours on her lungs, stomach and kidneys.

She was given several rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant at Birmingham Children’s Hospital but sadly died on April 24, 2021 when she was just eight-months-old, following a courageous battle. 

However in an interview with The Sun, the former footballer, 33, shared the news that he is becoming a father again, and his little girl was the first person he told. 

Ashley Cain has revealed he is preparing to become a dad again for the second time

It’s been two years since his beloved eight-month-old daughter Azaylia died in his arms after battling a rare form of cancer 

Ashley went to his daughter’s grave to give her the news after feeling that he needed to tell her in order to feel good about his new baby. 

He candidly revealed: ‘After going to her resting place and speaking to her about it, I just had a feeling in my heart and in my soul that she was happy for me.

‘She was happy that she had a little brother and it is now just someone else for her to watch over and protect in this world.’

Ashley had been preparing for the Yukon 1000, the world’s toughest survival endurance race from Canada, through the Arctic circle, to Alaska, when he received a call in July from a friend who he was dating at the time revealing she was pregnant. 

While Ashley hasn’t disclosed the identity of the baby’s mother, he said they have been friends since they were 18 and have met up on and off over the years. 

Opening up about how he felt after he received the news he confessed he found it difficult to process, but believes every child is a blessing. 

Of finding out that he is expecting a boy, he said: ‘In the back of my head I didn’t really know how to deal or cope with it if it was a little girl. It could have been fine but it could have been heartbreaking all over again and I wasn’t sure.’

Ashley said that Azalyia would have loved a a little brother and he is looking forward to becoming a father again. 

But Ashley’s strength was tested again when the couple discovered at the 20-week scan that their baby has a potential heart defect.

Ashley went to his daughter’s grave to give her the news after feeling that he needed to tell her in order to feel good about his new baby

Opening up about how he felt after he received the news he confessed he found it difficult to process, but believes every child is a blessing

Of finding out that he is expecting a boy, he said: ‘In the back of my head I didn’t really know how to deal or cope with it if it was a little girl. It could have been fine but it could have been heartbreaking all over again and I wasn’t sure’

He explained that the doctors couldn’t find the connection between one of the valves and the heart which naturally scared the star. 

Although he is worried over his son’s health after his tough journey with Azaylia, he said he will go for a scan as soon as he is born to double check his health. 

Ashley has previously described how he watched his daughter go from a ‘ray of sunshine’ to crying blood from her eyes as the rare and aggressive cancer took hold.

Speaking on the Original Penguin X Campaign Against Living Miserably Under The Surface podcast back in April, Ashley talked about Azaylia’s final moments and how she fought until the very end.

‘The first time I held Azaylia in my arms, I thought I had everything. All these things that I was searching for in my life before, couldn’t come close or equate to this,’ he says.

‘But I was living the dream for two months, before I found out that Azaylia had AML leukaemia.’

‘Do you know how hard it is going to sleep every night, scared to close your eyes because if you wake up, she might be gone. Do you know how difficult that is?

‘Do you know how difficult it is seeing your previous little girl who is a ray of sunshine, getting wires put in her, getting chemotherapy.

‘If her chemotherapy was going for three hours, I used to hold her for three hours, just so she knew I was there. That’s difficult.’

Ashley says he would have rather been ‘tortured for the rest of my life’ than have watched Azaylia suffer the way she did.

The couple’s daughter spent the majority of her life in hospital, undergoing four rounds of chemotherapy and stem cell treatment.

Despite efforts from around the world and a treatment in Singapore, pharmaceutical companies could not release the life-saving drugs needed to beat his daughter Azaylia’s battle.

A timeline of Azaylia’s six-month leukaemia battle

October 2020: Ashley emotionally revealed his daughter had been diagnosed with a ‘rare and aggressive’ form of leukaemia, which he described as an ‘uphill battle’. 

Heartbreaking: Ashley emotionally revealed his daughter had been diagnosed with a ‘rare and aggressive’ form of leukaemia in October

Azaylia was turned away by doctors three times and prescribed laxatives and a nasal spray when her breathing was impeded, shortly before her diagnosis.

By the end of the month, the brave child faced her second surgery and 16th chemotherapy-related treatment in less than two weeks.

November 2020: Azaylia’s hair started to fall out just weeks after she was diagnosed.

Doctors informed Ashley and his family that the tot needed a bone marrow transplant and blood donation.

Due to her Caribbean, Burmese, Indian and English background, the footballer said it was very difficult to find a match for a transplant. 

Azaylia was brought home for a few days before her second round of chemotherapy.

December 2020: 80,000 people became stem cell donors 48 hours after Ashley appealed for the public’s help.

So sad: Azaylia’s hair started to fall out just weeks after she was diagnosed in November

January 2021: The TV star confirmed a stem cell donor had been found for his baby daughter Azaylia. 

She received her stem cell transplant but her cancer sadly returned following a third round of chemotherapy. 

February 2021: Azaylia responded well to her stem cell treatment and doctors were impressed with ‘how strong she was’. 

She underwent further surgery to discover whether her leukaemia had gone. Later in the month, doctors revealed her cancer had returned. 

March 2021: They were told there were ‘very few options’ to help the baby’s condition before she had another bone marrow test. She relapsed by the end of the month and underwent her fourth round of chemotherapy.

Ashley surpassed his target goal of £1million after he set up a GoFundMe to pay for life-saving treatment for his daughter Azaylia.

Heartbreaking: Healthcare professionals revealed Azaylia only had a few days to live as they discovered tumours all over her body

The former Ex On The Beach star took to social media to ask fans for help in donating, explaining the treatment his daughter needed is available in Singapore.

Ashley described the treatment, CAR-T therapy, as ‘the only option to save Azaylia’s life’ and said he and partner Safiyya may have to fly out in a matter of weeks, adding it will take a minimum of one year.

Celebrities such as former TOWIE star Kate Ferdinand, Love Island’s Molly-Mae Hague and PrettyLittleThing founder Umar Kamani all donated.

Despite efforts from around the world, pharmaceutical companies could not release the life-saving drugs needed to beat his daughter Azaylia’s battle. 

April 2020: Healthcare professionals revealed Azaylia only had a few days to live as they discovered tumours in her stomach, her spleen, her liver and her kidneys, in addition to tumours in her brain.

Her parents bathed her in the hospital for a final time before they returned home.

They marked her turning eight months old by having moulds made of her feet, and Azaylia was met with support from the London Underground and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

She received life-prolonging transfusion after her condition caused profuse bleeding and public figures joined the nationwide clap held in her honour.

Azaylia was nominated for a Pride of Britain award and had a plane draw a heart in the sky for her.

The tot was put on oxygen to aid her sleep, and struggled to open her eyes due to swelling.

Scam artists set up fake Facebook pages in her name, with Ashley admitting: ‘We feel really sad it has come to this’.

Azaylia returned to hospital for another platelet transfusion a few days before she died.

The influencer’s ‘fragile’ daughter stopped breathing and suffered seizures before Ashley confirmed her death.

 

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In April 2021, the couple were told Azaylia only had a few days to live as they discovered tumours in her stomach, her spleen, her liver and her kidneys, in addition to tumours in her brain, and she tragically died later that month.

Ashley said: ‘I got told we can take Azaylia home now, there’s nothing else we can do, and I’m like “what do you mean?”, they said: “There is nothing we can do. She can’t fly to Singapore to get the treatment that you wanted, she’s got tumours in her brain, she’s got tumours in her lungs, she’s got tumours in her stomach, she’s got tumours in her spleen, she’s got tumours everywhere. And the cancer is growing with the chemotherapy. There’s nothing we can do.

‘So take her home, enjoy it, enjoy the last couple of days. I was like “what are you talking about?”

Ashley told the podcast – designed for men to help men talk openly about their emotions and hidden emotions – that he had sleepless nights and feared of falling asleep in case his daughter wasn’t there in the morning.

‘How can I take her home? Because I don’t know how she’s going to pass, if she’s going to bleed from the inside,’ he said.