A New Zealand father living in Armenia was given an ultimatum to choose between his wife and their newborn son who has Down syndrome, and he chose their son.
Samuel Forrest was married to Ruzan Badalyan for 18 months before she gave birth to their son Leo on Jan. 21 but when doctors told them about his condition, Badalyan was “too embarrassed” to keep him.
Forrest told ABC News after the doctor told him about the baby’s condition, "They took me in see him and I looked at this guy and I said, he's beautiful -- he's perfect and I'm absolutely keeping him."
He added, "I got the ultimatum right then. She told me if I kept him then we would get a divorce."
Forrest explained in Armenia it’s common for doctors to tell new parents of children with Down syndrome that “you don't have to keep them.” He said his wife and her family were ashamed of it, which is part of the culture there.
“My wife had already decided, so all of this was done behind my back,” he said, adding she filed for divorce a week later.
Forrest plans on taking Leo back to his native New Zealand, where he will have support from family. He has started a GoFundMe page for help with raising him alone.
"After what I've been through with Leo, I'm not going to sit back and watch babies be sent to orphanages," he said about become active in raising awareness for children with special needs.
"As a child with Down 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,” he said. “They all have niches and I want to work hard to find out where Leo's special. This little guy is great."