John Anísimov cried alone outside a hospital in Moscow on the day his son was born.
The doctors suspected Down syndrome. His wife gave him two choices: give the baby to a closed institution or get divorced. He did not hesitate. “I cannot betray a seven-day-old human being”, says the engineer and former serviceman, who went to the clinic alone to pick up the baby and has since learned, together with his mother and grandmother, how to change diapers and bathe him at a school for first-time parents.
Today Misha is six and a half years old. He has surpassed the level of motor skills expected for his age, although he is progressing more slowly in language. Anísimov attends therapy, participates in support groups, and admits that accepting the diagnosis was a process that never completely ends. But when asked whether it was worth it, he does not hesitate: “Misha fills my life”.
