Reality star Ashley Cain has opened up about how he spent his recent birthday during an appearance on Good Morning Britain. He last appeared on the ITV news programme last month, moving then host Robert Rinder to tears.
Former footballer Ashley's baby daughter Azaylia, who he shares with ex partner Safiyya Vorajee, tragically died from leukaemia last year aged just eight months. The former couple were able to bring their daughter home weeks before her death after doctors found multiple tumours in her body.
Brave Azaylia, who underwent four rounds of chemotherapy, received messages of support from around the world including from Ashley's idol Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and she inspired a powerful 'let's go champ' message. A fundraising campaign for the baby girl event raised £1.5million for her to have specialist treatment in Singapore but a CT scan showed there were further complications.
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Ashley, who appeared on Ex On The Beach, has since spent the time following Azaylia's passing raising money and awareness around childhood cancer by taking on gruelling challenges. He recently cycled across Europe to raise money for childhood cancer and when asked about his feelings towards the challenges, he said: "When people ask me if these challenges are hard, I have to tell them, it’s not hard."
He went on to say to Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard: "Every single night visiting your daughter at a cemetery, that's hard." Ashley also shared how he recently spent his 32nd birthday. "It was my birthday on Tuesday, I spent the morning with a fold-out chair sitting in the rain eating my breakfast at her resting place - that's hard," he said.
Susanna also brought up how last time his was on the programme, Ashley shared the reasons for his long facial hair. "Yeah so everyone asks me about the beard. It's a common question," he told Rob and Kate Garraway on the programme on August 24. "When we were in hospital we couldn't go out so I couldn't get a hair cut so I ended up developing and growing this beard and as my daughter got older she began to grab hold of it.
"She used to hold it and rub her feet through it and because I haven't got her here with me anymore, I wanted to keep my beard because she's touched these very hairs on my face, and I don't trim it, I don't shape it. I leave it because I feel like Samson and my beard's my strength."
When Susanna, 51, mentioned his beard on Thursday's GMB, Ashley echoed his further comments by saying: "She used to love this beard, she used to latch onto it. She used to rub her toes and her feet through it and when we lost Azaylia, I pledged to keep the beard because she’s touched these very hairs on my face.
"And it’s something that I wanna keep with me for the rest of my life, cause in a way I believe that it’s a form of my strength and it’ll help me push through."
And GMB viewers were sharing their support for Ashley. @AndySturgeon2 tweeted: "That was such a heartbreaking interview but also inspirational by Ashley Cain. His daughter sitting with Angels will be so proud of him." @SeanWhalley8 echoed: "Heartbreaking my heart goes out to Ashley Cain." @LisaKel04102898 added: "You can see the pain in Ashley Cains eyes. So sad I feel a bit tearful now. Wishing him all the best with his cycling #GMB #AshleyCain."
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