His wife wanted to give up their son for adoption because he had Down syndrome, but he decided to be a single father: 'I learned to change diapers.'

On August 28, 2018, John Anisimov took his wife to a hospital in Moscow, Russia, to welcome their first child, Misha. However, what seemed like a happy family scene turned into an unexpected event.

According to what the soldier revealed on social media, the birth of his baby brought joy to his life, but this emotion was overshadowed a few minutes later when the doctor told him that the child had a congenital anomaly.

Despite the devastating diagnosis, the man says the only thing he could say at the time was, "It's okay, we'll raise him." But after leaving the hospital, tears soon began to flow, reminding him that reality was overwhelming him.

A week later, his wife offered him an alternative that, according to him, was crossing a forbidden line, as she warned him that if they didn't hand the child over to an institution, she would be prepared to divorce him.

"I can't betray a seven-day-old human being. There's no decision," Anisimov wrote on his Instagram account, referring to the fact that he knew he didn't want to lose his son from the moment he received the news.

Shortly after ending their relationship, the soldier decided to keep the child and assume sole paternity. "I went to look for him at the clinic, but Misha's mother wasn't there."

After learning what had happened, his mother and grandmother embarked on a long journey from the city of Volgograd, located in southern Russia, to Moscow, where the man was with the newborn.

"I didn't know anything about basic care. I learned how to change diapers and bathe the baby at a school for mothers," the soldier said on digital platforms, where he also highlighted the help he has received in recent years from his family.

Regarding his son's diagnosis, Anisimov revealed that for the first few months he thought he had fully accepted the situation, but over time he has realized it is a "never-ending" process.

Despite this, the man asserted that Misha is the person who lights up his life and that it is because of him that he has changed his erroneous thoughts about fatherhood, which is why he decided to seek professional help on certain issues.

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