Ashley Cain raises £1m in less than a day for daughter's specialist cancer treatment

Ex On The Beach star and former footballer Ashley Cain has raised more than £1m for his daughter's cancer treatment in less than a day.

Cain had been raising money for his seven-month-old daughter Azaylia Diamond to get specialist treatment in Singapore after she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukaemia at eight weeks old.

Launching his appeal over the weekend, the former Coventry City player said on Instagram that despite a successful bone marrow transplant, her cancer quickly multiplied and she had gone into relapse.

Cain and his partner, Safiyya Vorajee, needed £1m to cover the cost of the treatment, the 30-year-old said - adding doctors said it was the only option they had left to save their daughter.

Cain wrote on the GoFundMe page: "After long discussions and a global outreach for treatment, our consultants along with consultants from around the world have come to the conclusion that the ONLY option to save Azaylia's life is to fly to Singapore for CAR-T therapy plus a haplo transplant, for a minimum period of 1 year.

"Because of the aggressiveness of Azaylia's disease, we don't have time on our side and we may have to fly out within a matter of weeks.

"This treatment and associated expenses will be in excess of 1 million pounds with an initial deposit of £500,000 just to be accepted into the hospital and onto the program."

By Sunday afternoon, less than 24 hours after he had launched his fundraiser, it had hit the target - and had reached £1.4m by Monday morning.

Responding, Cain said that the "love and support" from the public has "really touched our hearts", adding: "I can... not thank everyone enough."

Subscribe to the Backstage podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

Among those who had donated to Cain's fund were Love Island stars Molly-Mae Hague and Maura Higgins, as well as footballers Robert Snodgrass, Barry Bannan and Harrison Reed.

Cain spent the first seven months of his fatherhood in hospital with his daughter, as doctors tried to clear her cancer.

However, the couple were told that chemotherapy alone would not be enough to save Azaylia's life.