A wife decides to divorce her husband after he chose to keep his son with Down syndrome than to give him up for the sake of their marriage.
It's going to be a bittersweet trip back home to New Zealand for Samuel Forrest. While he's finally able to bring his son along, he's also officially divorced. This is after his Armenian wife, Ruzan Badalyan, left him because he just wouldn't give the baby up.
His wife gave birth to the baby boy Leo on January 21. The couple was reported to be happy until the doctor talked to him and mentioned about a problem pertaining to his son: he has Down syndrome.
Down syndrome is a genetic condition caused by a chromosomal defect. Also called trisomy 21, babies with Down syndrome normally have a small face including neck and mouth, flattened nose, eyes that are slanting upward, and short neck with excess skin folds.
Although he was shocked at first, he immediately fell in love with the baby as soon as Samuel laid eyes on him.
However, his wife didn't want to have anything to do with the baby. She refused to look or touch her newborn. Badalyan didn't want to be shamed by the public by being attached to someone who has a physical defect, Forrest explains in a Go Fund Me page he set up for his son. The wife then issued an ultimatum and forced the New Zealander to make a choice. When he picked his son, his wife divorced him a week after. He's also no longer welcome by his wife's family.
Because he felt he no longer had any future in Armenia, not to mention very little resources available, he's planning to come back to New Zealand with his son. The Go Fund Me page requests for $60,000 funding that will be used for their return and for their new life, with Forrest as a single father.
As of today, "Bring Leo Home" page already has $420,000.
