MISSION
ON YOUR 6

Our Story - The Day the World Changed

     On September 29th, 2022, everything changed. The day prior, September 28th, was seemingly typical, where most of our family was at home, gathered together in good cheer and laughter. In the late hours of the night, we sat poking fun at one another. Everything was just as it always was. When the phone had rang that night with the area code from Mississippi, it was altogether silenced, assumed to be spam.

     The morning after was when the knock at the door occurred at 7:30 a.m. Upon opening it, Joseph Lynchard was greeted with a Campbell County law enforcement officer. Immediately, panic set in, and his first thoughts were toward his eldest son, Michael Joseph, who was just there the previous night and worked with Campbell County as a deputy. The officer at the door told him it wasn't about Michael, but asked if he had another son named Justin. Justin Lynchard, the youngest son, was a U.S. army sniper with the 101st Airborne Division. The officer at the door urged Joseph to call the University of Mississippi Medical Center as they had been trying to get in touch with the family, and their son was in critical condition. During the return home from pre-deployment training in Louisiana, the bus full of soldiers stopped to let them all out to get something to eat. While crossing the street in Canton, Mississippi, Justin was hit, dragged, and ran over by a speeding Chevy Silverado going 45+ miles per hour.

     On the phone with UMMC, the ICU staff said that it was imperative that Joseph and his family get to Mississippi because it was unknown if his son was going to live. Justin had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury (diffuse axonal injury III) and multiple fractured facial bones from the head trauma. He also sustained an open, fractured left humorous, an open, fractured left tibia, a crushed and broken pelvis, and multiple subcutaneous wounds. His diaphragm had also ruptured, which caused his bowels and liver to invade into his right chest cavity. On the scene, he had to be resuscitated by his fellow army soldiers, and again during his 20 minute med-vac flight to UMMC due to the excessive blood in his throat and chest.

     The tickets were immediately booked, and the panicked race to cross state-lines commenced as his three siblings and parents rushed to be by his side.

     Upon walking into that room with him lying in that bed, life would never be the same.

     Justin was in a coma for 17 days, during which he suffered another brain injury, an ischemic stroke to the right side of his brain. In the ICU, there he remained on life support for a total of 18 days. That very first night, and each subsequent one after, one would have to wonder in heart-stopping anguish and fear, if he'd make it to the next; and each hour, each minute, each phone call, weighed heavy as bricks as his family walked blindly through this new life.

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     In the end, Hope prevailed. 

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     Since Justin's accident in September of 2022, his return home, and his ongoing recovery journey, the Lynchard family has literally met hundreds of people in similar situations, some not as severe as what Justin has gone through . . . , and some worse.

     From all walks of life and public service; military, law enforcement, firefighters, first responders, and their caregivers; each have boldly met the experience of serving this country and this country's heroes, and each deserve to be rallied behind in their walk through this new life, the same way Hope rallied behind Justin in his.

     Since Justin's accident in September of 2022, the Lynchard family has also been blessed with an enormous amount of support from the other heroes behind the scenes---the love and generosity of other non-profits, who have inspired the birth of this organization for Justin's legacy.

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     It's our gratitude, and for these reasons, that it's our mission to be On Your Six.