The Keymorada inshore and offshore tournament enters its fourth year May 7-9 in Islamorada as perhaps one of the nation's top fund-raising fishing events.
Founder Mitch Widom, a Miami attorney, predicts the Keymorada will raise $1.3 million, pending this week's online auction at www.keymoradafishing.com, including more than $430,000 this year alone.
Ellen Shapiro, a former chair of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation's Florida chapter, said it is her organization's largest benefactor.
''I am so thankful for everyone who responds to [Mitch] and helps us with this battle,'' Shapiro said.
For Widom, not getting involved was not an option. His daughter Taylor, 14, an honor student in the eighth grade at Ransom Everglades, was diagnosed with Crohn's a few years ago. The painful inflammatory bowel disease has no cure and no known cause.
Although Taylor didn't let the affliction stop her from sports, scholastics and hanging out with her friends, she had to endure frequent doctor visits and swallow handfuls of pills to keep it at bay.
The Keymorada, supporters say, raised the national consciousness about bowel disease. Sufferers can find support groups and updated information at ccfa.org and, these days, they might be able to get away with fewer pills.
''They just came out with a new medication so Taylor only has to take a few pills each day,'' Widom said. ``It's difficult when you're a 14-year-old young woman. You forget to take your medicine four times a day.''
Since Widom loves to fish, he decided a tournament would be the ideal vehicle to raise money. This year, a record 85 anglers will be fishing the flats and the blue water for species ranging from tarpon to tuna. More than 250 law firms from around the nation have responded to the Keymorada law firm challenge. Even the children of Keymorada anglers have done their part, holding bake sales and car washes and being rewarded with fishing trips in the tournament's Keymorada junior component.
Widom won't be able to fish this year; he accidentally cut his hand badly enough to require a cast. But he will be there coordinating his all-volunteer staff and awarding trophies to the winners.
