Ephoenix

Blizzard, creators of World of Warcraft, gave a wonderful gift to a 10-year-old boy in 2007 who was dying from a brain tumor.  In cooperation with the Make a Wish foundation, Blizzard whisked 10-year-old Ezra Chatterton to their headquarters where he was given several unique gifts both in and out of game.

For starters. Chatterton spent the day with Blizzard developer Jeff Kaplan designing a new quest that incorporates his favorite dog Kyle.  Of course, he was also allowed to design and provide the voice over for the NPC named Ahab Wheathoof whom will distribute this quest.  But perhaps the most important of all; Ezra designed his own legendary crossbow, which shoots fire arrows and is now available in game with the inscription "finely crafted to Ephoenix's specifications."  Finally, he was given the powers of the game Master, for a brief period of time, which he used to play around on the test realm to insta-zap monsters.

In addition to everything that he was given in real life, his character Ephoenix was given many gifts by the generous development team.  The character which Ezra played with his father was granted level 70 (the maximum at the time), all of the best PVP gear available, and a bunch of gold in order to do anything he desired.  You see, WoW was important to Ezra because it was the activity that he did with his father whenever the two were together.  Ezra's parents were divorced but through it all they were able to connect as father and son by working on a character together.

Unfortunately, Ezra Phoenix Chatterton lost his fight with the brain tumor on October 20, 2008 at approximately 10 p.m. Pacific Time.  Nothing I can possibly write in this article can convey the sadness that the AbleGamers staff felt when reading about his passing, which was posted on Warcraft's official site.  We also cannot thank blizzard enough for taking the time to grant this very young boy's special wish.  It is the goal of this website to promote a stronger relationship between video game industry conglomerates and their disabled fan base; this was a great sign that even industry leaders can take a moment away from making money to make what was probably one of the best days of Ezra's life.

If you would like to know more about Ezra's life, commiserate with fellow fans, or speak to Ezra's family; Ezra had his own website that can be located at http://www.ezrachatterton.org/.

I know this Ephoenix will never rise again but with your help, he will not be forgotten.  Our best wishes here at AbleGamers go out to the Chatterton family.