Father Opts To Leave Wife And Keep Down's Syndrome Baby

The Baby had Down's Syndrome, but his father found him lovely. "I looked at this guy and I said, he's beautiful - he's perfect and I'm absolutely keeping him," Forrest said, according to abcnews.com.

Samuel Forrest's son Leo was born on January 21, and doctors broke the news to him gently, but it made no difference to him.

However, the New Zealander living in Armenia had to cope with another tragedy. Leo's mother, Ruzan Badalyan, told him in the hospital room to choose between her or Leo, according to people.com. He decided to opt to keep the baby. Forrest confessed that his wife had threatened him with a divorce if he kept Leo. Badalyn, the mother, left them both, filing for divorce one week after he was born.

Forrest was surprised. "What happens when a baby like this is born here, they will tell you that you don't have to keep them," he said. "My wife had already decided, so all of this was done behind my back."

A freelance contractor, he had not been prepared for the baby. So he tried to raise money to help him return to New Zealand with Leo. Forrest started a GoFundMe page, in which he wrote: "scores of babies are abandoned [in Armenia] each year, for reasons ranging from physical or intellectual disabilities and minor 'imperfections' ... health professionals estimate that 98 percent of all Down syndrome babies born in Armenia are abandoned, every year."

Initially he wanted to collect $60,000, but now the page has raised nearly $300,000. Forrest is overwhelmed, but he has decided to use some of the collections to "fund facilities and programs here in Armenia that will support future parents to keep their kids despite all disabilities." Other funds will contribute to an orphanage in Armenia that regularly admits Down's syndrome babies.

"After what I've been through with Leo, I'm not going to sit back and watch babies being sent to orphanages," Forrest said. "As a child with Down's syndrome, that becomes somewhat of a label. If we can get around this label, we'll see that they're normal. They're a little different from us, but they're still normal."