Sam Griner, success kid's 'fame' on social media raises funds for dad's kidney transplant

Florida, April 17: In 2007, his one pic as an eleven-month old cute baby went viral on social media.

Now Sam Griner, the adorable toddler, has turned eight-year-old. His internet memes have raised huge funds for the kidney transplant of his father, 39-year-old Justin Griner.

Griner's mother, Laney raised funds through GoFundMe on Wednesday, April 8, one of the crowd-sourcing fundraising websites and not only raised $93,000 in just a week but also found thousands of donors.

Through Medicare, 80 percent of Justin's treatment expanses have been recovered. Justin has been battling with total kidney failure since 2009. [US: Woman donates kidney to a stranger, now to get married with him]

Laney told a newspaper that earlier she was hesitant about using her son's internet fame to raise funds for her husband, but said that "it was the only way to save his life."

While there are many sympathisers for Griner's father, but some critics have slammed the move of using their son to raise funds fir the treatment. The family lives in Jacksonville, Florida.

Griner became world famous when his mother uploaded his picture on on Flickr, Getty and MySpace, in which he posed with a clenched fist and victorious face expression at a sand beach.

OneIndia News