'Success Kid' raises money for sick dad
You know him best as the face behind the infamous "Success Kid" meme. But now, Sammy Griner is asking for your help to find a kidney transplant for his father.
Little Sammy Griner's dad has been diagnosed with kidney failure and is now in need of a transplant.
He spends four hours a day, three days a week, undergoing dialysis but the longer he is on it, the greater risk of complications he faces.
So Sammy has started a GoFundMe page and thanks to his popularity as a onetime omnipresent meme, he has raised more than $50,000 in just six days.
"It's just all been really amazing," Sammy's mother, Laney Griner, of Jacksonville, Florida, told ABC News. "It never stops being weird, and it never stops being awesome."
The Success Kid meme originated in 2007, after Griner posted a photo of Sammy at the beach when he was 11 months old to her Flickr page. Two years later, Griner noticed that the photo was being used as an I Hate Sandcastles meme, until finally morphing into the Success Kid meme the internet loves today.
Sammy's dad, Justin, is not yet on a transplant list, but is hoping to find a living donor soon.
"Six years on dialysis is getting to be a long time," Griner told ABC News. "It's wearing on him. ... I just want to get him healthy."
No doubt his son would have quite a victory face if that were to successfully happen.
"By now, it's just out there. What am I going to do? At least it's positive," Griner told ABC News. "Without that happening, how much could I get this recognition about my husband's kidney transplant?"
