Ashley Cain Reveals Why He's Not Shaving His Beard
- MTV star Ashley Cain, 31, and his partner, Safiyya Vorajee, lost their 8-month-old daughter in April after she lost a brave battle with leukemia.
- In a new video shared to Instagram, he reveals that he’s not shaving because his late daughter used to love to play with his beard.
- Leukemia is a type of blood cancer that results from the body producing a large amount of abnormal white blood cells.
Notably, Cain’s GoFundMe elicited the biggest giving response the platform has seen the entire year. Over 100,000 donations were made on March 28 for baby Azaylia. To date, it raised over 1.6 million pounds.
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Cain tells fans, “I am so happy I have all of these beautiful memories of azaylia to look back on even though they hurt and bring tears to my eyes every time. They make me grateful that I was privileged enough to love her, be loved by her and to have spent every single day of her life by her side.”
Finally, like a proud father, he says, “I LOVE YOU.” In the adorable video footage, Azaylia is kicking and pulling at his beard, as the protective poppa tells her over and over again, “I love you.”
Azaylia's Leukemia Journey
Azaylia passed after her battle with leukemia when she was just 8 months old. She was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) soon after she was born, and began receiving treatment for her disease. She had a traditional stem cell treatment in January, and on April 12, Cain shared that Azaylia only had days to live after doctors found tumors in her brain. They had planned to try CAR T-cell therapy as a final effort, but due to the aggressiveness of the cancer, doctors told them it wouldn't be possible.
Leukemia is a type of blood cancer that develops when the body produces a large amount of abnormal white blood cells, which prevent the bone marrow from producing any other type of cell, like red blood cells and platelets. Dr. Nina Shah, a hematologist at the University of California San Francisco, explains in an earlier interview how to best understand this disease.
"One cell got really selfish and decided that it needed to take up all the resources of everybody else, and in doing so, took up space and energy from the rest of the body," Dr. Shah says. "In general having a blood cancer means that your bone marrow is not functioning correctly. And when your bone marrow doesn't function correctly it means that you can have something happen to you like anemia. Or you can have low platelets, which makes it possible for you to bleed easily. Or your immune system is not functioning correctly."
What is a Blood Cancer How is it Different?
Coping with Child Cancer Loss
Losing a child to cancer, as Cain is experiencing, can feel overwhelming. Cain has shared his battle with grief on social media, writing about he has grappled with his emotions. "I cry so much at the moment,” he wrote in a post earlier this year, in which he also referenced the many “painful” days he’d been experiencing, due to grieving the loss of Azaylia to cancer.
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Coping with cancer-related loss and grief can be helped with therapy. Reach out to your community when you’re struggling talk to your friends, your family, your support network. People will want to help and do what they can to make the burden less painful. Take time to grieve, and be patient with yourself as you do.
Grief looks different for everyone, and there’s no one right way to grieve.
"Therapy Saved My Life": After Losing A Loved One, Don't Be Afraid To Ask For Help
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