Niki Taylor in Critical Condition After Surgery

ATLANTA – Supermodel Niki Taylor underwent five hours of surgery Thursday to repair internal injuries caused by a car accident.

An official statement from Taylor's agents at Tristar Management said, "Niki Taylor had a routine operation yesterday to change the dressing, packing her liver. No other procedures were performed. Dr. Jeffery Nicholas performed the surgery."

Taylor returned to the ICU in stable condition, but her official condition is still listed as critical

Lou Taylor, Niki's publicist, says the family is overwhelmed by all of the support.

Attorneys for Niki Taylor arrived in Atlanta yesterday to help determine the cause of the accident.

Taylor, 26, was riding in a friend's car early Sunday when it struck a utility pole in Atlanta. Doctors say she suffered severe liver damage and possibly lung damage.

The family's statement expressed thanks for the "thoughts, prayers and overwhelming support" they have received, but asked supporters to send stuffed animals to the hospital instead of flowers. They said the toys would be donated later to Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital in Atlanta.

The driver of the car, Taylor's friend Chad Renegar, and another passenger suffered only minor injuries in the crash. Renegar said he looked down to answer his cell phone and ran off the road.

"For just a moment, I was distracted by something that was not part of what I should've been doing at the moment, which was driving, and the result of that has changed the lives of three people and their families," Renegar, 27, told ABC's Good Morning America Thursday.

"Think about things like that. There's nothing on that phone that can be nearly as important as what's going on in front of you."

Taylor's publicist said her older sister, Joelle Bolline, has held a near-constant vigil at the model's bedside since the accident.

"She said, 'We need you to keep fighting,' and Niki nodded," said publicist Lou Taylor, who is no relation.

The model's parents, Ken and Barbara Taylor, and Renegar also have been with her at the hospital.

Her twin 6-year-old sons, Jake and Hunter, are staying in Florida with their father, Matt Martinez, the model's ex-husband.

"They are doing fine," said Mary Eaton of Kendall, Fla., Taylor's aunt. "They've been told what a 6-year old needs to know -- that their mother was in an accident."

She said Martinez and the boys "are in constant contact" with family members in Atlanta.

Sunday's accident came one day before Taylor was to begin acting lessons at home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The 5-foot-11, 130-pound model hoped to launch a film career, her publicist said.

Taylor has been a top model since the early 1990s, once appearing on six different magazine covers in a single month. She is a spokeswoman for Cover Girl cosmetics and earned more than $5 million last year, according to the British magazine Business Age.

The accident is the latest tragedy for the Taylor family. In 1995, her younger sister, Krissy, also a model, died at age 17 of asthma and an undetected heart condition.