travis barkerTravis Barker has expressed his thanks for everyone that has helped him - and the families of his friends Chris Baker and Charles Still - following their plane crash last month.

Travis was travelling home to Los Angeles after a gig in South Carolina with friend Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein, personal assistant Chris and bodyguard Charles (known as Che) when their private Learjet crashed on take-off. Chris, Che and the plane’s pilots were all killed in the incident and Travis & AM were badly burned. After a week of treatment in a specialist burns centre in Georgia, AM was released but after transfer to a facility in California, Travis remains in hospital undergoing more surgery and treatment.

Writing on his MySpace blog over the weekend, Travis said: “I want to give my deepest thanks to everyone who has helped deal with the current situation.

“First and foremost, Chris and Che were my friends. I would give up anything to have them here with us today, healthy and happy. To call them my employees does them such a disservice, as they were so much more than that. Chris was my best friend before anything else, and I can never put into words how much he will be missed. Che was an amazing person as well, and I was honored to have him in my life.

“I am simply amazed and will be forever grateful for all the support everyone has shown to Chris and Che’s families. It’s a testament to how many lives they touched in a positive way.”

As for his own recovery, he added: “Like the doctors said from the beginning, it’s been a slow recovery process. I am coming up on the 7th of my surgeries Monday.

“Today I finally was able to move all my fingers on my right hand. Every step seems huge at this point, and I’m doing EVERYTHING I can possibly do to get back to my kids. Yes, I did start eating meat again, but if it helps me to be home holding my little humans sooner, then its all worth it.

“I got to see AM the other day. Seeing him after he was discharged was an inspiration. I saw just how awesome the doctors’ work here is, and got to see how well he is doing. I am so happy to see him doing well, and we are both so lucky and grateful that we are alive today.

“Now I’m just counting the days until I can leave. I can’t wait to get home to play drums with my son, and go for bike rides with my daughter.

“I can’t wait to see the pictures from Landon’s ‘Jack and Sally Nightmare Before Christmas’ birthday party that we had for him today. I am bummed that I couldn’t be there, but thank God I’ll be around to see many, many more.”