Losing a child is every parent’s worst nightmare — and for Ashley Cain and Safiyya Vorajee, it became an unbearable reality when their baby daughter Azaylia Diamond Cain died aged just eight months.
Now, almost five years on, the former couple have reunited to speak openly about the pain of facing another Christmas without her — and how grief, separation, and life moving forward have reshaped them both forever.
Azaylia was born in August 2020, but just two months later she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of acute myeloid leukaemia. Despite desperate treatment attempts, she passed away in April 2021, with both parents at her bedside.
Their relationship could not survive the devastation, and the pair split 11 months later in March 2022. Yet even after going their separate ways, they remain bound by a shared loss that will never fade.
Safiyya, 34, admits the festive season continues to reopen wounds she works hard to manage.
“We all navigate grief differently,” she explains. “This wave — especially after Halloween, when you see children playing together — has been really, really difficult for me.
“As it rolls into Christmas, the nights feel particularly hard. Even when I try to put those feelings aside, it doesn’t stop the pain.”
Ashley, 35, echoes her words with quiet understanding.
