The glamorous life of a supermodel is one I could only dream of having.  Jet setting all around the world; sipping expensive champagne from crystal flutes; waking up each and every day with my own team of hair and make-up artists at my bedside; earning thousands of dollars just to smile pretty in front of a camera.  Ah yes, sounds quite alright to me.

For Niki Taylor, life as a supermodel wasn’t always golden.

Niki, who started professional modeling at only fourteen,  was forced into growing up well before her time.  A mother of twin boys by the young age of twenty, and a divorcee just two short years later.  She suffered a heart-wrenching loss and nearly lost her own life.  Cosmopolitan once quoted Niki saying, “I may be 23, but I feel like 50.”

Born March 5, 1975 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Nicole Renee “Niki” Taylor was destined to make it big in the modeling world.  The blonde beauty with the sparkling eyes and broad, blinding white smile had the perfect “All American Girl” look.  While most high school freshmen girls were just tyring to fit in with their surroundings and find acceptance among their peers, fourteen-year-old Taylor already had a highly successful career as a supermodel.  She became the youngest model to earn a cosmetics contract.  At the tender age of sixteen, Niki signed a multimillion dollar deal with L’Oreal and then later on with CoverGirl.  The teen also won the title of being the youngest face to ever grace the cover of Vogue.  Niki had become one of the most recognizable faces in the industry.  “Modeling came naturally to me.  I was just a normal kid who’d fly to Paris or New York City for the shows, then go back to school as if it were what everyone did,” Niki once told Cosmopolitan.

The stunning model, daughter of Ken and Barbara Taylor, grew up in modest suburbia.  The Taylor family lived in Pembroke Pines, which was only about ten minutes from my childhood home and was only seconds away from my brother’s house.  With such close proximity to where I spent much of my time, I often found myself driving by the Taylor residence.  The grass was always a vibrant green and neatly manicured.  Most often there seemed to be a pick-up truck parked out front, and the house, which was nicely shaded by trees, looked happy and full of life.

Ken Taylor, Niki’s father, was an officer with the  Florida Highway Patrol, while mother Barbara worked as a real estate agent.  They eventually left their careers to be with Niki on her modeling jobs.  Joelle and Krissy, the other two Taylor daughters, were just as beautiful and personable as their supermodel sister.  However, Joelle never took to modeling.  Krissy, on the other hand, who was the youngest of the three girls, fell in love with photo shoots and runway.  So much so, she started up her own modeling career and even appeared on the cover of Seventeen with sister Niki.

Despite their glamorous career choice, Niki and Krissy kept grounded.  Friends described the girls as “down to earth” and “unaffected.”  Niki chose to remain close to her Florida home rather than relocate to New York City or Los Angeles.  Growing up near the Taylor girls, I often crossed paths with them when out with friends.  Niki and Krissy attended many of the same parties and social functions as I did.  And once I started college in Davie, Florida, I saw them even more.  We knew all the same people there and went to all the same places.  Krissy, a cowgirl at heart, hung out occasionally at the Davie rodeo; a popular site for all the local college kids, much like myself back in the day.  Niki, too, was often seen at the busiest spots in town.  There she’d be, enveloped by the prettiest and most well-liked girls, and of course, the cutest of boys.  The last time I ran into Niki, she was having dinner with friends at the local Bennigans.  I had just gotten into a fight with my worst enemy (now good friend) that night, and Niki was concerned.  That was just how she was.  She was a true friend to all, caring and selfless.

Life back then for the Taylor sisters was happy and virtually worry-free.  At nineteen, Niki met Matt Martinez, a hunky semi-pro football player.  The two fell in love and eloped.  Shortly after, Niki got pregnant with twin boys.  She gained over 70 pounds, but only three months after their birth, dropped the weight and went back to modeling.  Two years later, Matt and Niki ended their marriage in what was considered by many close to them as a “bitter divorce.”

Then, on July 2, 1995, Niki encountered her worst nightmare.  The young woman walked into her family’s Pembroke Pine home only to discover her beloved sister, Krissy, lying lifeless on the floor.  Niki frantically dialed 911, and Ken Taylor, tried with all his might to revive his daughter.  No one was able to help, however; Krissy had died.  She was only seventeen.  The youngest Taylor girl thought to have suffered a massive and fatal asthma attack, but later was found to have died from a hidden and rare heart condition known as Right Ventricular Dysplasia, or RVD.

Though devastated by the loss of her sister, Niki had to continue on with her own life, which meant motherhood and modeling.  Eventually the stress Niki had been trying to avoid for so long had caught up with her and she turned to prescription drugs such as Xanax and Vicodin.  Niki became depedent on the drugs and was often seen falling asleep while dining out at restaurants.  In February of 2001, the internationally known supermodel, checked herself into a Maryland rehab program, which lasted 28 days.

Niki decided it was best to cut back on her shoots and rather be with her twin boys.  Her emphasis at this point in her life was spending less time in front of the camera and more time as a mother.  And though her modeling career took the back burner, she still was seen as the most famous model of the time.  After all, it was then that Niki earned a coveted spot on the cover of Sports Illustrated and continued to work for CoverGirl as well as Nokia cell phones.

That spring, Niki got invited to visit a few of her friends in Atlanta, Georgia.  In the early morning hours of April 29, 2001, Niki almost lost her life.

James “Chad” Renegar, a stockbroker and a good friend of Niki’s, hit a utility pole while trying to retrieve a ringing cell phone in his car.  It is reported that at least one other passenger, aside from Niki, was traveling in the car at the time of the accident.  The weather that fateful morning in Atlanta was stormy, and the roads were wet, not to mention winding and curving.  Niki, was in the front passenger seat during the low impact crash.  The driver and passengers checked themselves and their car over, and realized they were all fine.  The car only had minor damage and no one seemed hurt or injured in any way.

All was well, or so the friends thought.

Once back on the road, Niki began feeling ill.  Her stomach started to hurt and within minutes, Niki was bent over in extreme pain.  She urged her friend to stop the car and pull over.  “I need to get out and walk around,” pleaded Niki.  By the time they stopped, the supermodel was overcome with pain and became dizzy upon exiting the car.  Collapsing into the wet grass, the last thing Niki could remember was the driver hovering over her and calling 911.  Niki blacked out completely.

The next thing she could recall were all the horrific and terrifying nightmares.  The images in her head still haunt her to this day.  “I was being chased and people were cutting me.  There were grizzly bears and people floating in a pool,” recounts Niki during an interview for the Bio Channel’s Celebrity Close Calls.  Not only were the visuals disturbing, but Niki felt extreme thirst and hunger.  “I saw the Devil trying to take over, and wanting my soul.”

Even after waking, Niki’s nightmares ceased to end.

“I wake up in the hospital then and see my mom and dad, doctors and pictures of my sons,” recalls Niki.  “I remember looking at them and feeling despair.  I wanted to get out of there.  I wanted to speak, but couldn’t.  I could look down and I saw tubes everywhere on my body, including a trach in my throat.”  More than anything, Niki felt paralyzed.  Without being able to speak and move, she had no way of communicating with those around her.  She couldn’t even hold a pen to write a simple note.  The doctor’s explained to Niki that she had been in the hospital for over a month; a total shock to the model who felt she had only been there for a mere moment.

As Niki’s story goes, after her friends called for help while she lay unconscious in the grass, paramedics rushed to the scene and took her to Grady Hospital.  Trauma surgeon, Jeffrey Nicholos had just begun his shift.  He didn’t have much hope for Niki; her prognosis was grim.  Within the first 24 hours, Niki had undergone three surgeries and had to have her blood volume replaced ten times, as she was bleeding profusely.

The next surgeon arrived.  Niki was barely clinging to life at this point.  In the hands of surgeon #2 was Niki’s liver, which had been torn in half.  Apparently, the seat belt which Niki had been wearing while in the car, cut her liver in two.  How ironic that something Niki depended upon that night for saving her life, could ultimately take it away. Niki flatlined; not once, but twice.  Doctors informed Ken and Barbara Taylor to start making funeral arrangements, and discussed moving Niki’s body.

Somehow though, Niki defied the odds.  No doubt there would still be plenty of challenges.  For three months, doctors had to keep Niki’s abdomen open from the breast bone down to the pelvic bone.  Her body only loosely strung together by a set of large stitches, necessary to do for all of her numerous surgeries.  According to Niki, the constant re-stitching and scrubbing of her abdomen was brutally painful.  No amount of morphine could help alleviate the extreme discomfort Niki felt.  She described these experiences as “excruiating.”

In total, Niki endured 41 surgeries in this three month time frame.  In Niki’s second month, she finally was able to write, but was still quite challenged.  She recalls it was very frustrating and could only make out a scribble.  Another hardship were all the heavy pain meds that Niki was on.  She was constantly drowsy and sedated.  The meds were necessary for proper healing.  For if Niki was in too much pain, her body would be unable to heal properly.

The ICU became Niki’s new home.  She spent months there, taking her delicate life day by day.

On her last day in recovery, Niki’s trach was removed.  This was one of her most profound moments while in the hospital.  Niki knew that having the trach taken out meant she was going to live; however, the experience was also physically intensive.  After the trach was removed, Niki recalls how strange it felt to take her first breath, unaided.

For the entire three month duration of Niki’s hospital stay, she never once was able to see her six-year-old twin boys, except in photographs.  Children under the age of ten were restricted from visiting in the ICU.  For Niki, her sons’ absence was “the most terrible thing.”  Niki says she is alive today because of her children.  She wanted to survive for them and the fight she made while in the hospital shows just how much she wanted to see her boys again.  While recovering, Barbara enlarged a few photos of her twins and taped them to the ceiling in Niki’s hospital room so they could be seen each time Niki opened her eyes.  When she could finally see her boys again in person, it was a most joyous moment.  “They ran to my bed; they had grown up so much,” smiled Niki.  “They gave me the motivation to fight.”

After months in the ICU with a sewn up abdomen, having endured numerous surgeries, receiving 100 units of blood and flatlining twice, Niki recovered.  Her once torn-in-half liver, regenerated itself completely.  The organ is the only one of its kind that can heal this way.

With severe liver damage, massive internal hemorraging and a shattered vertebra, no one expected Niki to live.  And during her three months in the hospital, anything that could’ve gone wrong, did.  Doctors never could explain how a low-impact car accident could result in such life-threatening injuries.  After all, Niki was wearing a seat belt, and the car’s estimated speed at the time of the accident was only 28 mph.  There was no evidence of drugs or alcohol influencing the driver’s system.  According to medical experts, only one out of ten could live through injuries of that magnitude.

Niki Taylor’s survival is, indeed, a miracle.

Ten years after the tragedy, Niki continues to model internationally and is now the mother of three, with a fourth on the way.  When not spending time with her children or walking the runways, Niki dedicates her efforts and passion to several charities such as Teen Driver Safety and the American Red Cross, which she fought for while appearing on the hit show, Celebrity Apprentice.

When Niki was asked how she beat the odds, she said there were a number of different factors involved.  “I got through the residual with a strong support system.  I am also thankful for good doctors and all the donated blood.”  And, of course, for Niki, her twins played a pivotal role in her recovery.  Niki knew she had to be strong and keep fighting on their behalf.  She also believed in the “power of prayer.”

Perhaps it just wasn’t Niki’s time to leave this Earth; God had other plans for her.  Or maybe, Krissy, Niki’s late sister, had something to do with her fate; heavenly intervention, if you will.

Today and everyday, Niki is reminded of her accident.  She still bears the physical scars.  For whenever she looks in a mirror when getting dressed, the memories of her nightmare penetrate her mind.  She remembers the pain, her helplessness, and her fear.  But with the bad, trickles in the good.  Niki knows just how incredibly lucky she is to be alive.  In her interview with Cosmopolitan Niki was quoted to have said, “I’ve been through a lot, but everything has been a learning experience.  It’s made me a much wiser, stronger person.”

Life is fragile, and no one understands that better than Niki Taylor- supermodel, mother and survivor.  The incredibly gracious Niki states, “Every day is a gift.”