Niki Taylor Surgery

By Stephen M. Silverman

Tuesday March 31, 1998 12:00 AM EST

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Supermodel Niki Taylor, who was critically injured in a car accident in Atlanta early Sunday morning, underwent additional surgery in Atlanta for severe liver and abdominal injuries, hospital officials said midday on Thursday. "She is still in surgery," according to a spokeswoman for Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital. She said that the operation began Thursday morning. No further information was provided. Taylor, 26, was responsive Wednesday morning, according to her aunt, Mary Easton. Unable to speak because of a ventilator, Taylor nonetheless wanted the tubes removed from her arms. While Taylor is "definitely not out of the woods, at least she's heading in the right direction," said Eaton, whose sister Barbara is Niki's mother. Taylor's doctors, said her aunt, are "pleased she's now fighting for herself." Taylor's physician, Dr. Jeffrey Nichols, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday that it would be weeks before her recovery can be properly assessed. The accident apparently occurred when Chad Renegar, the driver of the car Taylor was riding in, lost control after being distracted by his ringing cell phone. "I was distracted by something that was not part of what I should have been doing at the moment, which was driving," Renegar told "Good Morning America." "The result of that has changed the lives of three people and their families."