Niki Taylor Lucky to Be Alive

By Elizabeth Darst

Monday November 19, 2001 08:09 AM EST

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In April of this year, the supermodel came perilously close to losing her life in a car wreck and has been slowly recuperating ever since, she tells ABC News. Last spring Taylor and boyfriend Chad Renegar crashed their car in Atlanta, Georgia, after a night of dinner and dancing. She was taken to an area hospital where doctors discovered that her liver had been almost completely severed in two. She underwent 41 surgeries and was unconscious for a month and a half. The worst part of the ordeal for he was not being able to see, or even talk to, her twin 6-year-old boys, Jake and Hunter, for over 2 months. Thinking of them was what kept her motivated to recover. "They're amazing," she said of the twins. "I have the best two men in my life. They were incredible." Taylor told ABC's Charles Gibson that while it was devastating, and she still is limited physically in many ways, the experience has made her appreciate her kids and her life even more. She added, "All I can do is wake up every morning and thank God for giving me that day and go on with my day."ELIZABETH DARST