The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, a documentary by WoW, ignited the passion of Martin Hywood, who has raised more than PS300,000.

I was invited to a roundtable discussion about The Remarkable life of Ibelin by Muscular Dystrophy UK. If you're not familiar, the documentary is about WoW player Mats Steen who died in 2014 from Duchenne muscular Dystrophy, which is a muscle-wasting condition that has a life expectancy between 20 and 30 years.

It's a very emotional journey to watch. But I was also deeply moved by the speakers who spoke at the roundtable. They all found a deep connection with the story and how it was told. I spoke with Martin Hywood, a member of Muscular Dystrophy UK. He was diagnosed with limb Girdle muscular dystrophy back in 1996 and has raised an incredible PS300,000.00 for research into similar conditions.

"I was diagnosed more than 25 years ago. I was angry and in a state of: Why me, why is this happening to me? I wanted to become a car mechanic. I left school at 15. I returned to school for my exams but that was it. I was told I should give up my career because I had been from pillar-to-post with four different hospitals before I got this diagnosis.

Hywood says, "I was fed up." "I didn't even want to know anyone with muscular dystrophy. I didn't care about a charity, or anything else. But I knew that I had to change my career." What follows is an impressive list of jobs. Hywood worked for Volkswagen, was an administrator at a company he bought later, spent a time in pharma and more.

"My wife noticed children getting diagnosed which was devastating... so we started raising money. I was so fortunate. It was like Midas' touch. I spoke about it everywhere. People like Jon Richardson of 8 out 10 cats and the Kaiser Chiefs would contact me. All these little events are what we do. Accumulated up to PS300,000.

As for what he is doing now, Muscular Dystrophy UK currently has a charity drive called Game On. This system allows gamers of all stripes to start a digital fundraising campaign to help out. Hywood, a wheelchair user due to his condition tells me that the idea was born from a desire to offer fundraising activities to anyone.

"We find that people with disabilities are very talented at gaming," Hywood, who is a dab-hand himself, tells me. He was blown away by his nephew's performance on the Forza Horizon 4 leaderboards. "It's an activity they enjoy as a hobby." We came up with the concept of sponsors for marathon events, whether it be six, 12 or 24 hour.

"I have found that I sometimes have people take part in events on my behalf, but I cannot be there physically. I might not be able to attend a marathon because they are running it in Scotland. But with Game On people can actually attend the event."

It feels natural to me that people with these conditions continue to use videogames to do good, just as Steen, also known in-game as Ibelin, had a big impact on his community. Hywood, who insists that he does not want to "blow their own trumpet", says that Mats’ ability to impact the lives of others left a lasting impression on his work and him.

"I thought--a lot people have told me that PS300,000.00 is an incredible amount to raise for charity, and now it's really hitting home that it is. And that it's fantastic achievement. But I still come away thinking that I must be more able to help more people. I must be more able to raise awareness. There must be something else I can do to increase funds."

Hywood mentions an episode from the film where Steen encourages the mother of an autistic child to connect with him by playing WoW. This encourages him to connect not only with her, but also with the outside world. "I don't believe you can put a value on what Mats did. He helped that mother-son relationship have that hug. That is priceless in comparison to anything I did. I think this is where I get the feeling that I need to do something more. I need to do something more than just money-related things.

"I can raise 300,000. I can go on to raise one million pounds, but what Mats has done with that relationship is priceless."

What does Hywood hope audiences will take from the documentary? "I hope people will watch The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, and go down the rabbit-hole of not only who Mats was but also the condition and learn more about Muscular Dystrophy UK and hopefully reach out to us or receive help.

"Even if people don't donate or get involved, they will be more aware about muscle wasting conditions and weakening because they are extremely rare" (for context, approximately 110,000 people have muscle wasting conditions and weakening in the UK). "When something is extremely rare, there's not much attention." Benjamin, the director, has brought to light not only this amazing story, but also some extremely rare conditions. In my opinion, that is absolutely amazing." Sign up for Game On if you're interested hosting an event or streaming a marathon to help people in the UK like Ibelin.