The man that has a heart made out of gold.

A father from Russia ended up raising his child with down syndrome alone after the mother of the child wanted to give him away to foster care because the child was different.

33-year-old Evgeny Anisimov, the Russian man, raises Misha, his son with down syndrome, completely on his own.

His wife left the family because she had a hard time dealing with the diagnosis of their son.

However, Evgeny was not one of the people that just give up.

The young father said that he wanted to prove and inspire parents all over the world that they should never give up.

During an interview with Bored Panda, Evgeny said:

I didn’t know what to do when I learned of the hypothesis that my son had Down Syndrome. I thought my task now was to turn off emotions, ignite thoughts, support my wife because I believed it would be more difficult for her. The results of the analysis we were promised in a few days, and until then, I decided not to say anything to her. I remember that upon learning that my son has Down Syndrome, I left the hospital and cried, but not for long. Later, I was a little embarrassed by these tears. In my life, after all, nothing had changed, in general. I was still with two arms, with two legs, my professional knowledge had gone nowhere. My determination, activity, curiosity, and so on—everything was with me. Everything happened as I planned, my son was born. But the child is special, his life and future destiny are already very significant. And I’m roaring here! This is some kind of selfishness! Is it not fair? No, it is my responsibility. You did not have an amniocentesis—it is clear that the probability was low, but still. You wanted a child, so you took responsibility for it. After all, there are many options: autism, cerebral palsy, genetic mutations… And Down Syndrome is not the worst, as I learned later.

Because the father did not want to leave his son at an orphanage, he decided to research children that are born with Down Syndrome.

Evgeny Anisimov used the internet for research and found out that children that are born with Down Syndrome are capable of being socially active, are capable of living alone, and even working independently.

The father said that he was keen on giving his son a life that would make him happy.

He said:

He’s going to enjoy the sunrise, I’m going to take him out to barbecue, he’s going to live his life. Yes, maybe he seems unhappy to someone, but he will have his own life. At no time did I think of leaving my son in an orphanage, that would be inhumane.

Evgeny Anisimov also talked about his life and the things that they had to go through when making an extremely hard decision.

The father said:

My wife and I had always had a good and trusting relationship. There were different periods, difficulties, lack of money, separation. I am a kind type, I’m used to giving in to everything, adjusting. Friends even ironically called me ‘dominated.’ But in this case, I was even ready for a conflict, I tried to convince her that we could overcome this situation. And the conflict separated us. Now I understand that she was just scared at the time, she started to act according to the wrong scenario, and by then, the rubicon was already crossed and it was too late to retreat from the scenario. When a child is born, he asks the outside world: ‘Am I needed here or not?’ And I answer with certainty: ‘Son, you are needed!’ Being with him, even alone, is a normal act for a normal man. I emphasize—I am a normal man, not some kind of hero.

Down Syndrome

For every 800,000 births, one child is born with Down Syndrome, which is a condition that is caused by an extra copy of one of the chromosomes, which is also known as chromosome 21.

Children with Down Syndrome are known to have such a great personality, which is usually being kind and extremely affectionate to people that they get close with.

However, people all over the world are afraid of them.

The reason behind this is that most people are not educated enough to understand that children that are born with down syndrome are not different from us, instead, they are just special. So special that they forget to think about the amazing charisma they bring into the house with their extremely big smile.