If you spend any amount of time on the internet, there's a good chance you've seen Sammy Griner's determined face before.
He's the star of one of the web's most famous memes, "Success Kid," which shows Sammy as a baby with a furrowed brow and a fist raised in triumph in front of a blue pinwheel background.
Well now the young internet star's father is turning to the medium that made his son so famous and asking for help.
Success Kid's father, Justin Griner, was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2006 and suffered full kidney failure in 2009.
He's been on dialysis ever since.
But now the Griners are turning to the internet in hopes that they can find some help to cover the $75,000 it will cost for Justin to have a kidney transplant.
Success Kid's mom, Laney Griner, has set up a GoFundMe campaign writing, "[Justin's] mother died from this disease, please help us write a different story for Justin and his son, Sam."
Though Medicare is covering some of the cost of dialysis and the transplant, Laney tells the Daily Dot the additional treatments just cost too much.
"There's a lot of medicines and anti-rejection drugs one must take for life, some costing thousands of dollars a month," she says, "Medicare pays for the first three months, and that's it."
"One can only survive with no natural kidney function and using article kidney filtering for so long," Laney continues, "His energy and mood are affected, he can no longer work, and he spends 12 hours a week in dialysis clinic. Having been on dialysis for this long greatly increases his risks of developing further complications. The only way to save his life is to get a transplant. There's no other way around that."
The parents of the famous now-8-year-old aren't sure where the donor kidney will actually come from, saying, "we've had several friends and family offer and get tested to be donors, but no match so far."
Sammy first found fame on the internet in 2007 when Laney posted the now popular photo of him on the beach at 11-months-old.
From there it took off, eventually becoming the meme it is today.
The meme, which as the name would imply, is typically used to tell of some unexpected success, has been used across all formats of media.
"We're the parents of 'Success Kid' for goodness sake," Laney comments, if anyone understands the power, the mass, and goodwill of the Internet, it's those of us lucky to experience it daily."
So far, just over $4,000 of the $75,000 goal has been raised.
About the Author
