Travis Barker has revealed that doctors considered amputating his foot after the 2008 plane crash that killed four people and left him fighting for his life.
The Blink-182 drummer opens up about the crash in the new Hulu documentary Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear, where he describes the scale of the injuries he suffered after escaping the burning wreckage.
'I broke all of my ribs,' Barker says in the documentary. He also recalls fracturing his back in four places and suffering burns across 65% of his body.
Barker, now 50, was a passenger on a private jet that crashed during takeoff from an airport in South Carolina on 19 September 2008. Four of the six people onboard died, including both pilots, Barker's security guard Charles Still and his personal assistant Chris Baker.
Doctors Feared for His Life
Barker survived with severe third-degree burns and spent more than three months in hospital. He underwent 27 surgeries and multiple skin grafts as doctors worked to save his life and repair the damage caused by the crash.
The musician says he was heavily medicated in the immediate aftermath and did not fully understand how serious his condition was.
'My brain wasn't functioning,' he says, explaining that he was on morphine and other medication at the time.
At one point, Barker says doctors were running out of options.
'They couldn't do any more surgeries and I was low on blood,' he recalls. 'There was talk of amputating my foot.'
Pain Management Became Another Battle
Barker says the physical pain after the crash was overwhelming.
'I was in a lot of pain,' he says in the documentary.
He adds that doctors struggled to manage it properly, which made his recovery even more difficult.
'They couldn't get my pain management right, so I was freaking out,' Barker recalls.
The only other survivor of the crash was Adam Goldstein, better known as DJ AM. Goldstein died less than a year later from an accidental drug overdose.
Living With Grief and Trauma
Barker says the crash changed the way he understands life, grief and survival. He reflects on years of trauma after walking away from a disaster that killed four people, only to later lose Goldstein as well.
The drummer says he has learned that life is never guaranteed, but he has also found a way to carry the memory of those who died. He says he has accepted who he is now and tries to live in a way that honours them.
Kourtney Kardashian Helped Him Fly Again
For years after the crash, Barker refused to fly. He also did not want his children flying because of the trauma he carried from the accident. In the documentary, he explains that his now-wife Kourtney Kardashian helped him finally get back on a plane.
'I had this force within me that I didn't want to be restricted by anything anymore,' Barker says.
He adds that facing that fear mattered not only for himself, but also for his children.
'There's nothing that's going to have power over me,' he says.
Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear streams on Hulu from Thursday, 13 August.
