Father Refuses to Give Up Newborn Son with Down Syndrome [PHOTO]

When Samuel Forrest was told that he didn't have to keep his son, who was just born with Down Syndrome, he was shocked...and the next blow was just as bad: his wife was leaving him.

This guy truly, truly gets the award for Father of the Year.

Samuel Forrest is from New Zealand, and his wife Ruzan Badalyan is from Armenia. She had just given birth to their first son in an Armenian hospital. Doctors brought the little bundle out to Samuel, with the baby's face covered. The doctor told Samuel that his son, Leo, had been born with Down Syndrome.

They also told Samuel that he could give the baby up, if he wanted to. Samuel was unaware that this is a common practice in Armenia. His wife warned him that, if he wanted to keep the baby, she would divorce him. Samuel said he "never had a doubt" that he would hold onto his son, and he did just that. And his wife left him. He said that they never spoke about it in private; it was a done-deal.

You can read the entire story from ABC News HERE.

Samuel has set up a GoFundMe page to help him and his son Leo to get back to his home country of New Zealand, where he says he will receive support from family. He also wants to stay home with Leo as much as possible in the first year. The page is already up to $182,000, which is more than three times what he had originally asked.

Dare I say, I give the mom credit for releasing her name with the story AND saying that she had left him. This is obviously a cultural "norm" in her country, and she's not used to anything different. Not that it makes it okay, but still. It's all she knows. This guy is going to have his hands full, but he clearly has more support than he realized. What a beautiful baby!