‘Success Kid’ helps fund dad’s kidney transplant

The now 8-year-old Sammy Griner used his internet popularity to help get his dad a kidney.

The “Success Kid” meme all started after Sammy’s mom, Laney Griner, took a picture of him, then 11 months old, making a smug face after eating sand. The picture went viral and thousands upon thousands of people made memes out of it with different captions for different life scenarios.

CNN reported that Sammy’s mom, Laney, created a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $75,000 to help cover the medical expenses that go along with a kidney transplant for her husband, Justin Griner.

The campaign has raised more than $100,000 in 4 months by more than 4,000 people as of Wednesday.

On Saturday, the update on the page, written by Laney, said Justin was on his way to pick her up and get a transplant.

Laney also put out a tweet that said, “If the #successkidney story has a moral, it’s be an organ donor! Thanks for being part of our amazing #transplant adventure.”

The Alabama Organ Center says nationally, more than 116,900 people are waiting for an organ transplant and a new person is added to the waiting list every 18 minutes. For an anverage of 19 people per day, the wait is too long and they die before a suitable organ is available.

The AOC says in Alabama, more than 3,800 people are waiting for a transplant.

For more information on the Alabama Organ Center, click here. If you’re a match, you can clickhere.

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