American model Niki Taylor returned home on Tuesday following a two-and-a-half-month hospital stay. The Cover Girl beauty suffered near fatal wounds in an April 29 car crash, but was released from Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital and sent home to begin physical therapy.
“Words cannot express the gratitude in my heart for Dr Jeffrey Nicholas and everyone at Grady who worked so hard to save my life,” she said. “I am very grateful.” Niki is planning a celebrity benefit to raise funds for the hospital.
Niki had been released from the hospital on June 26 and checked into a nearby rehabilitation centre. However, she was readmitted to Grady in early July so that doctors could drain fluid from her liver.
The 26-year-old model was a passenger in a Nissan Maxima that crashed into an electricity pylon in Georgia early on the Sunday morning in April. “Everyone felt she was okay, and then she had severe stomach pains,” her publicist said at the time. “There was no head injury, no facial lacerations. It was all internal trauma.” Doctors say she suffered serious liver damage.
Driver James Renegar, 27, an old friend of Niki’s, told police he lost control of the vehicle after looking down to answer his ringing mobile phone. He and passenger John Lack, 30, were treated in hospital but released the same day. Officers do not believe drugs or alcohol played a role in the accident.
Niki, mother of six-year-old twins Jake and Hunter, was visiting friends in Atlanta and planned to return home to Florida to begin acting lessons at the time of the crash. While in hospital, the twin boys stayed with their father, Niki’s ex-husband Matt Martinez. The couple had briefly reconciled last year, but split at Christmas time.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
