Coventry University honours Ashley Cain and Safiyya Vorajee for their incredible charity efforts in memory of their daughter Azaylia

When I was first told about the Honorary Doctorate I didn’t really believe it. I thought it was a joke but really all the glory goes to my daughter, she has done so many amazing things for so many people.

When I learnt about Azaylia’s diagnosis my heart just felt like it shattered there in the hospital. You wouldn’t wish such a thing on your worst enemy but very soon I knew the person I needed to be. I never wanted to cry in front of Azaylia, I just wanted to give her the best life I possibly could, to fill her world with smiles. She was simply incredible, those eight months felt like such a gift to me. She taught me so many lessons, I just can’t describe how incredible it was to be around that girl.

Azaylia is my reason to fight, to push myself for the foundation, she is my superpower. My life with Azaylia was confined to a hospital but by going around the world and doing all these challenges, I feel like she’s coming around the world with me.

I can’t put into words how amazing it was to have that level of support from so many people when we shared Azaylia’s diagnosis on social media, social media became a second family to us. I don’t think people will ever really understand what that support meant – it warmed our hearts.

Just three percent of cancer research funding goes into childhood cancer which means survival rates stay low, and we feel our children are worth more than three percent.

Ashley Cain

I’m absolutely overwhelmed to be presented with an honorary doctorate. The Azaylia Foundation is my life’s work and to have something that has been such a therapy for me recognised in this way is very special.

We launched the foundation because we believe Azaylia shouldn’t just be remembered as the little girl who passed, but as the girl who helped so many others. I want her to be remembered far beyond her lifetime. She inspired over 80,000 people to join the bone marrow register, not just because it could have saved her life but for the hundreds of thousands of other lives the register can help save.

I was always determined to fill Azaylia’s life with smiles, warmth and love, being a mother is simply the best thing that has ever happened to me and I feel so lucky to have spent such wonderful times with my incredible daughter that will stay with me for my lifetime.

So many people followed Azaylia’s story, it was an army of love and we received so much amazing support. It really felt like humanity at its very best. When we first received Azaylia’s diagnosis, I just felt helpless and numb, we didn’t know where to turn, but having the help and support of so many people and from our NHS was just amazing.

Childhood cancer is the biggest killer of children in the UK, yet it receives just three per cent of research cancer funding. We’re passionate about increasing awareness of this disease and we don’t want parents to have to travel abroad to seek specialist treatment for their children.

I didn’t originally intend to write a book about Azaylia. When we were in hospital I just made notes because I wanted her to know about everything she’d fought through when she was a baby when she grew up. After Azaylia passed I was approached by a publisher about writing a book – it was therapeutic for me and I just bled every drop of my pain into that book, it helped me so much. I thought if it can just help one other person going through something like this, then it is all worth it.

Safiyya Vorajee

We are delighted to award Honorary Doctorates to Ashley and Safiyya for their incredible work helping families battling childhood cancer. Their determination to help others in similar situations is inspirational and their commitment to challenging the status quo and driving change that improves the lives of people are qualities we and our students share.

Ann-Marie Cannaby, Coventry University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor for Health