'Success Kid' turns to internet seeking kidney transplant for dad

The child in one of the internet's most uplifting memes is trying to find his dad a new kidney and raise $75,000 for expensive medical treatments.

The boy known as Success Kid, who is now eight-year-old Sam Griner, rose to internet fame after his mom uploaded an image to Flickr of the 11-month-old Sam standing on a beach with a fistful of sand and a triumphant look in his eyes.

Some MySpace users started using the image in their profiles, according to the website Know Your Meme. But it really hit its stride in 2011 as a captioned meme.

Success Kid captions describe situations that end up better than expected. Some common captions include, "Don't know question on a test. Answer is in another question," and "Late to work. Boss was even later."

His mom, Laney Griner, made her first Success Kid meme more than two years ago. "Dropped out of college. Gave birth to Success Kid," it read.

Now, the face behind the lovable meme is asking the internet to help his dad, Justin Griner, who needs a kidney transplant.

Laney Griner set up a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to help pay for the expensive treatment.

"Please help us reach our goal so that Justin may get the pre-treatments and transplant he desperately needs," she wrote. "His mother died from this disease, please help us write a different story for Justin and his son, Sam."

Justin Griner was diagnosed with kidney disease about nine years ago, she told the Daily Dot. Since 2009, he's been on dialysis after experiencing a full kidney failure.

While Medicare pays for dialysis and would fund a kidney transplant, extra costs such as anti-rejection drugs add up to thousands of dollars.

Laney started promoting the fundraiser on her Twitter feed, using her son's internet fame to garner attention for the cause.

People started sharing her story on the internet, and thousands of dollars came pouring into the GoFundMe page.

As of Wednesday evening, the fundraiser had surpassed its original $75,000 goal. Nearly $90,000 had been donated.

"Spent a good portion of my teen and early adult years giggling at Success Kid's memes. I also very much love my father. Live a long and happy life papa!" wrote one woman who donated $7.

The page also asks people willing to be live donors to fill out an online living donor evaluation form from the Mayo Clinic to see if they're a match.

"Just filled out the donor application," one woman wrote in the fundraiser's comments. "I lost my dad at six. No child should have to go through that."

"I called to see if I could be a match," wrote someone else. "Sending prayers."

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