When Mats Steen was a little boy, he loved a small ceramic fox. In his native Norway, a fox is a \u201creven.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
His mother, Trude, says he carried everywhere. Back then, he could still walk on his own.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was 7 years old when a wheelchair arrived at his house. His parents anticipated he would need it soon, as his muscles weakened due to a rare condition, Duchenne muscular dystrophy. He hated the wheelchair, so it stayed in the hallway.\u00a0 Even though he was stumbling and falling, he didn\u2019t want to use it. Eventually, he had to.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n As an adult he was given a miniature fox as a birthday gift, something that was dear to him and that he saw every day on his living room shelf. When Mats passed away in 2014 at the age of 25, the Steens designed a gravestone with a fox carving.<\/p>\n A virtual version of that gravestone appears in World of Warcraft<\/a> (WoW), a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) that was a big part of their son\u2019s last eight years of life. What they didn\u2019t know until after he died was how big of an impact he made on others while he was there.\u00a0<\/p>\n The public meets the private eye<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n In the role-playing environment of World of Warcraft, Mats was known as Ibelin, a robust and charming private investigator with a muscular physique and long red hair. His welcoming smile and gentle nature made him popular with other players.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n When WoW created an in-game tribute to him, the Reven Pack, which would also raise funds for CureDuchenne<\/a>, an organization that supports research, early diagnosis and access to treatment, the game\u2019s producers chose a wily fox wearing a detective hat who could be carried by players in his own custom backpack.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In a bit of kismet, the World of Warcraft artist who created the character, backpack and gravestone for the fundraising collaboration is also named Mats and is also Norwegian. The fundraiser runs through Jan. 7, 10 a.m. PST*.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/source\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/WoWScrnShot_102524_204749-1024x538.jpg\")
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/source\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Ibelin-still-2-1024x554.jpg\")