text: A down syndrome baby abandoned by his mother in Armenia is being rushed back to New Zealand by his Kiwi dad. 
   
   Leo Forrest was born on January 21 this year with down syndrome. His father was given an ultimatum by his mother - send him away or get a divorce. 
   
   In Armenia, which borders Iran and Turkey in eastern Europe, it is common for families to abandon children born with physical or intellectual disabilities. 
   
   Leo's Kiwi-born father, Samuel Forrest, is reportedly no longer welcome in his family home because he wants to keep his child. 
   
   "The mother refused to even look at or touch Leo for fear of getting attached in a society where defects are not accepted and often bring shame on the family involved", according to a GoFundMe page set up for Mr Forrest. 
   
   The fundraiser, to help the pair get back to New Zealand, has received astonishing support since Mr Forrest's story was picked up by news organisations across the world. In just two hours the tally jumped from $10,000 to $80,000. 
   
   It now sits at more than $160,000 and at one point was increasing by around $1000 every minute. 
   
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   "This really came out of the blue for me," Mr Forrest told USABC. "I don't have a lot, I have very little in fact. The goal is to raise enough for a year so I can get a part-time job so Leo doesn't have to be in daycare and I can help care for him. He's lost a lot in two weeks. It'd be different if he had his mommy." 
   
   The Government has fast tracked citizenship and a passport for Leo, according to Mr Forrest's Facebook page. ||||| When Samuel Forrest of Armenia heard a baby crying from outside his wife's hospital room, he knew his life would change forever. 
   
   Not only had he become a father, but he would soon receive some unexpected news about his newborn son. 
   
   "This pediatrician walks out of the room with a little bundle -- that was Leo," Forrest said. "She had his face covered up and hospital authorities wouldn't let me see him or my wife. When the doctor came out, he said 'there’s a real problem with your son.' 
   
   Forrest followed doctors and nurses into a room where he'd finally get to meet his baby. 
   
   "When I walked into the room they all turned to me and said 'Leo has Down syndrome," he told ABC News. "I had a few moments of shock." 
   
   After the news had sunk in, Forrest held Leo for the very first time. 
   
   Courtesy Samuel Forrest 
   
   "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." 
   
   Soon Forrest walked into his wife's hospital room with Leo in his arms. 
   
   Her reaction was unlike one he ever expected. 
   
   "I got the ultimatum right then," he said. "She told me if I kept him then we would get a divorce." 
   
   Attempts to reach the hospital for comment weren't immediately successful. The baby's mother, Ruzan Badalyan, told ABC News that she did have a child with Down syndrome and she has left her husband, who has the child, but she declined to elaborate. 
   
   Forrest, who's from Auckland, New Zealand, said he was completely unaware of the hospital practices in Armenia when it came to children. 
   
   "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." 
   
   Courtesy Samuel Forrest 
   
   Despite his wife's warnings, Forrest said he never had a doubt in his mind that he would hold onto his son. 
   
   One week after his birth, Leo's mom filed for divorce. 
   
   "It's not what I want," Forrest said. "I didn’t even have a chance to speak with her in privately about it." 
   
   Forrest, who works as a freelance business contractor, has plans for he and Leo to move to his native country of New Zealand where he said they'll receive support from loved ones. 
   
   In the meantime, he's enlisted for some help on his GoFundMe page titled "Bring Leo Home." 
   
   "This really came out of the blue for me," he said. "I don’t have a lot, I have very little in fact. The goal is to raise enough for a year so I can get a part-time job so Leo doesn't have to be in daycare and I can help care for him. He's lost a lot in two weeks. It'd be different if he had his mommy." 
   
   Forrest has recently been working with disability awareness groups to share his story in the hopes that parents will become better educated on children with special needs. 
   
   "After what I've been through with Leo, I'm not going to sit back and watch babies be sent to orphanages," he said. "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. 
   
   "They all have niches and I want to work hard to find out where Leo's special. This little guy is great."
target: – When he discovered his newborn son had Down syndrome, a New Zealand man living in Armenia was horrified not by the condition, but by the assumption that he wouldn't want to keep little Leo. When the boy was born, "the doctor came out, he said, 'There's a real problem with your son,'" Samuel Forrest tells ABC. "They took me in to see him and I looked at this guy and I said, 'He's beautiful—he's perfect and I'm absolutely keeping him,'" he says. But his Armenian wife told him she would leave him if he didn't agree to put the boy up for adoption, and when he declined, she filed for divorce a week after the boy was born on Jan. 21. "When a baby like this is born here, they will tell you that you don't have to keep them," Forrest says. "My wife had already decided, so all of this was done behind my back." The wife confirmed to ABC that she had a baby with Down syndrome and has left her husband, but she declined to discuss details. Forrest, a freelance business contractor, started a GoFundMe page for help taking Leo to live in New Zealand and has had an overwhelming response, TVNZ reports. With a $60,000 target, he has now raised more than $200,000 and plans to use the extra funds to support programs that help abandoned children in Armenia and families with disabled children. (A woman who asked for a few birthday cards for her son with Down syndrome received truckloads of responses.)