Kate and Rio Ferdinand, Molly-Mae Hague and Maura Higgins lead celebs donating to Ashley Cain’s £1m fundraiser for baby daughter’s treatment

Ashley Cain has said he is ‘eternally grateful’ after surpassing his £1million goal to raise funds for his baby daughter’s medical treatment, thanks to the generosity of his celebrity pals.

A slew of famous faces, including Kate and Rio Ferdinand and Love Island stars Molly-Mae Hague and Maura Higgins, dug deep into their pockets to help Ashley raise the huge sum for his daughter Azaylia so she can undergo life-saving treatment for leukaemia.

The GoFund Me page originally had a goal of £1m, but has since hit £1.4m in 24 hours, as the fundraiser was shared around on social media.

Faced with another setback that saw Azaylia’s leukaemia return, Ashley revealed he is left with one last option to fly his baby girl out to Singapore so she can undergo CAR-T therapy – with the treatment taking a minimum of a year and requiring a deposit of £500,000.

Moved by Ashley’s story, Pretty Little Thing owner Umar Kamani donated a huge £20,000 to the fundraiser, while Kate and Rio Ferdinand – who recently welcomed son Cree – donated £1000.

In The Style’s Adam Frisby generously gave £10,000, while Mrs Hinch (Sophie Hinchcliffe) gave £3000 in donations and Love Island stars Molly-Mae and Maura both donated £1000.

Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock’s fiancé Andre Gray and Ashley’s Ex On The Beach co-star Jem Lucy also donated £1000 each.

Other donators included Marvin Humes who left £500 for Azaylia and Jacqueline Jossa, who made the donation in her married name Osborne.

Reacting to the incredible donations he had received for his little girl, Ashley thanked fans and celebrities for their ‘kindness’.

He said in an Instagram video: ‘Honestly, the amount of kindness that you have shown. The amount that you don’t even realise you have helped us is just incredible and me and my family are eternally grateful to you guys. 

‘I’ve had the busiest day, with consultants, doctors, nurses, on the phone to pharmaceutical companies, looking after Azaylia. I didn’t even know ‘til tonight. I must have gone on my phone and seen thousands of messages.’

He continued: ‘I thought they were gonna be saying that we’re close and the fact that we’ve hit it and we’re way above is just incredible. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.’

Ashley is hoping to fly out to Singapore in a matter of weeks.

His daughter Azalyia was just eight-weeks old when she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer known as acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).

She was put into intensive care and has undergone chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, but Azaylia was in the poor risk category for transplant success and high risk for fatal complications.

While she survived the engraftment process with minimal side effects, Ashley was left devastated to learn that Azaylia still had traces of leukaemia. He and girlfriend Safiyaa Vorajee were told there was nothing more that could be done if her leukaemia returned within a year.

Azaylia’s leukaemia rapidly multiplied and she went into full relapse.

She was born in August, with Ashley telling fans shortly after her arrival that becoming a dad has been the most ‘precious and humbling’ thing.

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