You’ve undoubtedly seen the Success Kid Meme countless time over the years. This type of image macro meme has died off in recent months, but if you go back a few years the Success Kid Meme was one of the most popular memes in the world and one that’s been shared millions of times across the Internet. The child behind the Success Kid Meme is a boy named Sammy Griner, who is now 10 years old, and recently saved his father’s life.
The Success Kid Meme first came into existence back in the year 2007, and is sometimes known as the ‘I Hate Sandcastles’ meme or as ‘Advice Animals‘ memes. It goes by many names, but shortly after it hit the World Wide Web back in 2007 the father of the Success Kid, Justin Griner, suffered completely kidney failure in 2009 and was forced to go on dialysis.
Seeking to capitalize off of his internet fame, a GoFundMe campaign was started last year in Sammy Griner’s name (the Success Kid), and that campaign went on to raise over $100,000 in an effort to get Sammy’s dad a kidney transplant. You probably heard about this GoFundMe campaign because nearly every website on the Internet covered it back in 2015.
https://twitter.com/sallyulianich/status/587720187182452737
Well, flash forward to present day and Sammy’s dad has undergone a successful kidney transplant, and he’s living a healthy life all thanks to his son’s internet stardom as the ‘Success Kid Meme’. But he’s not looking for any more fame on the Internet.
According to The Lad Bible, The Success Kid (Sammy Griner) was recently offered a TV interview but declined because:
“I don’t want to be shown on TV unless it’s like just the picture,” Sammy said. “I’m really happy that I’m famous because I’m glad that people like it. I’m glad it makes people happy when they’re sad. I’m also really happy that I still have a dad.”
All.
The.
Feels.
Just a kid who wants his family to be happy. A great story in a year full of depressing news.