StarBulletin.com

Stroke fells teen pageant queen


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POSTED: Tuesday, April 20, 2010

A popular island beauty queen and model is lying in a coma after suffering a massive and likely fatal stroke at Mililani High School, generating an outpouring of fond wishes from her classmates and the pageant community.

Sheryl Wolfe, 18, the reigning Miss Hawaii Teen United States, was ruled brain-dead yesterday and was being kept alive so her organs can be donated, her parents said.

Wolfe collapsed in class last Tuesday and was rushed to the Queen's Medical Center, where a brain scan showed extensive bleeding, said parents Alan and Estrella Wolfe.

“;Please pray for Sheryl Wolfe,”; says a message on a modeling website, Model Mayhem.

Wolfe had been looking forward to her senior prom, which was held Saturday, and the Miss Hawaii Teen World pageant May 9, said Luana Alapa, state pageant director. Wolfe was also the reigning Miss Hawaii Teen Princess—a title she was to pass on May 8.

Her date took a rose corsage to her in the hospital on prom night, said Alapa.

She also was visited by “;sister princess”; Ashlyn Pierceall, Miss Hawaii Junior Teen United States, who had her date drop her off from the prom at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

“;It was so sad,”; said Alapa. “;A stream of folks have been coming through there the past few days.”;

               

     

 

 

Condolences through charity

       

In lieu of sending flowers to the hospital, Sheryl Wolfe's parents ask that donations be made in her name to one of her favorite charities, Compassion International, 12290 Voyager Parkway, Colorado Springs, CO 80921. www.compassion.com

       

“;She was a sweet, loving girl,”; remarked Florence Villanueva, a 16-year-old Waipahu High School junior and “;pageant sister”; of Wolfe's. “;She'll always be remembered.”;

Added fellow senior Laura Bunner, 17, who also visited after the prom, “;She was one of those people who could put a smile on everybody's face. ... She was just so loved and full of energy. She always has been that person who was there for you in a second, the most important friend I've ever known in my life.”;

Wolfe, who has a sister, 20, and brother, 21, says on the Model Mayhem website: “;I'm a Hawaii-born, half Caucasian and half Filipino. I do runway modeling, bikini and commercial prints. I look forward to making new experiences and working with our best photographers, make-up artists, models and actors in the island and beyond. Sorry, no nudes, please.”;

She loved going to the beach, played soccer and ran track and field, and wanted to continue modeling and possibly do graphic design, her parents said.

“;She really liked special-type people with mental disabilities,”; said her father, a civil engineer. “;She had a special place in her heart for them and was thinking of a career along that line.”;

For the past 18 months she supported a 14-year-old boy in Thailand through Compassion International, a Christian organization that helps orphans worldwide, he said.

“;That's the way her heart was.”;

Villanueva said her friend won every pageant she entered and wanted to win the Miss Hawaii Teen World contest so she could go to Miss Teen United States-World.

“;She was very ambitious and confident and so compassionate,”; she said. “;She touched my life.”;

Villanueva said she will wear Wolfe's gown when she competes at the pageant.

“;I'm doing this pageant for her,”; she said. “;I'm going to let her walk on that stage that night. It's not about me, it's about her.

“;She has been waiting for this pageant the longest. It would have been a chance to go to the nationals.”;

If she wins the title, Villanueva said, she will give the crown to Wolfe's parents to put in her glass case once her reign is over.

Alapa and former pageant queens planned a special tribute to Wolfe last night in her hospital room, with pictures of her and a video of last year's pageant.

“;A queen walks down the ramp and says a final farewell as outgoing queen,”; Alapa said. “;This is her farewell moment.”;