Travis Barker Is "Thankful to Be Alive"

• Oct 8, 2008 03:19 PM ET
• by Joyce Eng

Travis Barker

Travis Barker is "grateful" to be alive after surviving the Sept. 19 jet crash that claimed the lives of four others.

"My biggest fear ever is to be involved in a plane crash, so when that happened...," the drummer told Us Weekly, speaking out for the first time since the accident. "I'm just thankful to be alive! I'm just grateful to be here at all."

Barker and DJ AM were the sole survivors. After being treated at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Ga. for second and third degree burns, Barker was transferred — traveling by bus — to the Grossman Burn Center in L.A., where he's been having "surgery after surgery."

"I am doing the best I can possibly be," he said. "I'm so anxious to get out of here.… I have third degree burns basically from my feet up to my waist and both hands. One of my hands was second degree burns and one was third degree burns. I'm trying to have a quick recovery and play the drums again and be able to hold my kids [Landon, 5, and Alabama, 2, with ex-wife Shanna Moakler] again."

To quicken his recovery, the former Blink 182 and vegetarian started eating meat again in order to get protein, which has made him feel "so much better."

"I hope not [to be hospitalized] much longer," he said. "I sit here and I read books and watch TV. I think if this surgery went well, I'll be here for at most two weeks."