PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
ELLEN GILLETTE
Humphries regularly attends continuing education courses to keep up with best management
practices in the field. This solar water pump supplies five water troughs using a mile of pipe.
Port St. Lucie Magazine 45
“He was in the hospital three and half
weeks,” his mother, Joanne, says. “A miracle
and good doctors pulled him through.”
“And maybe a little stubbornness on my
part,” adds Humphries, whose pectoral
muscles had to be reattached to his skeleton.
His jugular vein was nicked, his sternum
was broken, his heart shifted, his lungs filled
with blood. The sternocleidomastoid muscle,
which enables head rotation, was severed.
He required 13 surgeries.
“It was tough,” he says. “Even though I
was grateful for a second chance, I was in a
bad mood for a long time. I was 27, scarred,
with a tube sticking out of my throat — I
wondered if I’d be that way forever. I was
afraid I’d never get used to people staring.”
At some point, his ranch-inspired, problem
solving skills kicked in. Having grown
a beard to hide his scars, he shaved only the
scarred side for a week, forcing himself to
endure the stares.
“I got over the fear,” he says.
Today, he’s too busy to worry: working
with nonprofits, cheering on his son’s
baseball team, planning a new business for
wedding and corporate venues at the ranch,
helping grove owners find alternatives for
their land, writing articles. He also has been
approached about running for office.
Maybe in a few years. If he has time. E
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