Today marks exactly five years since Ashley Cain and his ex-partner Safiyya Vorajee lost their daughter Azaylia Diamond Cain to acute myeloid leukaemia on April 24, 2021, a milestone that both parents are expected to acknowledge publicly as the anniversary falls on the same week their shared grief has returned to the spotlight following the launch of Ashley’s new BBC Three documentary series.

Azaylia was just eight months old when she died following a battle with one of the rarest and most aggressive forms of childhood cancer, having been diagnosed in October 2020 when she was barely two months old, with tumours discovered across her lungs, stomach, and kidneys after an initial round of chemotherapy had failed to contain the disease.

The couple, who documented every stage of Azaylia’s illness and treatment on social media in real time, captured the hearts of millions across the UK and internationally, with a GoFundMe campaign to fund specialist CAR-T cell therapy in Singapore raising over one million pounds in a single day, ultimately attracting support from figures including Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson before doctors confirmed the treatment was no longer viable given the progression of Azaylia’s illness.

Ashley, 35, and Safiyya, 36, set up The Azaylia Foundation in their daughter’s honour following her death, with the charity’s mission centred on leading the fight against childhood cancer through fundraising, research support, and awareness campaigns, a legacy project both parents have remained committed to despite their 2022 separation.

The foundation has become the defining thread connecting the two in public life, even as their personal relationship has navigated the intense scrutiny that comes with two people grieving in the open, separating publicly, and subsequently building separate lives while maintaining a shared commitment to their daughter’s memory.

On the fourth anniversary in 2025, Ashley wrote a tribute that ran to hundreds of words, sharing an image of Azaylia’s headstone and writing: “For 4 years, I’ve lived in fear of this very moment. As a parent, you never, ever want to reach the day where this becomes the final thing you can do for your child.”

He continued: “But today, on Azaylia’s 4th anniversary, through the numbing guilt and the devastating pain, I feel an overwhelming sense of pride. Pride that one of Earth’s most beautiful little princesses, and one of Heaven’s most beloved angels, now has a special crown worthy enough to hold her story.”

Safiyya marked the same occasion with her own tribute, writing: “A day with a sad heart and many tears, but also a memory filled with happy moments. Today, as all the family came together to pay their respects to my beautiful daughter, my princess, we spoke about Azaylia and how she filled all of our hearts with so much love.”

The fifth anniversary arrives at a moment when Ashley has returned to a wider public profile through his BBC Three documentary series Ashley Cain: Into The Danger Zone, a six-part production that launched on April 1 2026 and sees the former Coventry City footballer and Ex On The Beach star travel to some of the world’s most dangerous cities to explore the forces that shape the lives of young men born into poverty, violence, and criminality.

The series, produced by True North in association with House of Panthera, takes Ashley from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to gang slums in Manila, rhino poaching networks in South Africa, drug war corridors in Marseille, gold cartel territories in Colombia, and Sweden’s teen gang frontlines, with Ashley framing each journey as an exercise in empathy rather than judgment.

Ashley has spoken about his motivation for making the series in terms that connect directly to the personal transformation he has undergone since Azaylia’s death, describing a “genuine passion for the people of this world and true compassion for every person’s situation” that he says the experience of losing his daughter fundamentally deepened and sharpened.

Since Azaylia’s passing, Ashley has gone on to welcome two sons, Aliyas born in January 2024 and Atlas born in November 2024, and has spoken openly about how fatherhood again has helped him process his grief while keeping Azaylia’s memory central to how he is raising his boys, telling The Mirror: “They’re absolutely gorgeous and are really helping heal my heart. I know Azaylia would be absolutely besotted by them and they will by her when I tell them all of the stories about her.”

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