High School Cheerleader Dies of Apparent Breast Surgery Complications, Friends Say

She was captain of her high school cheerleading squad, a nearly straight-A student and a soon-to-be pre-med student at the University of Florida.

But now, 18-year-old Stephanie Kuleba is dead, and her friends and family are pointing to breast augmentation surgery as the cause, The Palm Beach Post reported.

"She was a role model for a lot of people," her friend Vicky Goldring, 16, told the paper. "She was incredibly smart. She wanted to help people. She was just a happy 18-year-old girl."

Kuleba died Saturday of what friends believe were complications from the plastic surgery she had the previous night, though no official cause of death has yet been released, the Post reported.

A friend speaking on behalf of her grieving family told the newspaper that Kuleba had an extreme reaction to the anesthesia.

"The surgery itself was very personal," Perlman told the paper. "She passed away from complications during surgery.

Paramedics were summoned to the teen's aid at the Boca Raton outpatient surgery unit where she'd had the procedure, and they rushed her to Delray Medical Center. She died there on Saturday.

The West Boca High School senior, whom friends described as "perfect" and full of promise and possibilities, was mourned by classmates at a candlelight vigil at the school Sunday night. More than 400 people attended.

Frankly it seems like a bit of armchair quarterbacking when someone who has not raised a child to adulthood criticizes the failings of those of us who have done so.

I am not criticizing you, I am criticizing the parents of the dead cheerleader. To dismiss an argument not on merits, but solely on the presenter is a liberal tactic. You give the impression that if I had a 22 year old daughter that you would understand my point. That is asinine. The point stands or falls on its merits, not my reproductive history. Frankly, I find your holier than thou attitude because you squeezed out a daughter a few years before I became a parent, both arrogant and ignorant.

But you don’t know that that’s the case, and you are sounding awfully judgmental.

It is judgmental; people make judgments everyday - they often keep us alive. Your scenario regarding credit cards is far less likely than my assumption that the parents at least approved of, if not paid for, this elective surgery.

I just hope you will never find out the hard way how difficult previously angelic young girls can be. They can surprise you. In any case, good luck, and best wishes to you and your daughter for the next years.

I am finding out how difficult a young girl can be, but I do not allow that to inhibit my willingness to do make tough decisions regarding her upbringing. I appreciate your best wishes, but I choose not to rely on luck where my children are concerned. I choose to rely on sound judgment, good advice, adherence to principles and faith in the Lord.

IMO, the boys who drool over bigger breasts are just as much a part of her decision as vanity. A girl sees that no matter who she’s become through hard work, all the boys still just talk about the size of a girl’s chest when considering a date.

I think you're giving way too much credit to breast size in a young woman's ability to attract a mate.

Guys may snort and chuckle amongst themselves about a girl's boobs but overall physical beauty, intellect and disposition are much, much more important.

This girl was a beautiful blonde who was the head cheerleader at her High School. To suggest she couldn't get a date because her breasts weren't perfect is ludicrous.

“The heartbreaking part of this is that the girl is being made fun of because of the type of surgery. Had it been anything else, everyone here would be up in arms about the incredible tragedy. But because it is something that many consider ‘vanity’ the girl is free game.”

Disgusting, isn’t it?

Amen...this could have happened having her wisdom teeth removed; or even getting stitches. But because this was during an elective procedure she is keyboard komando fodder.

Gosh, even her public school has been blamed...hello people...allergic reactions happen. To meds (read the package insert on your next rx); foods; insect stings. Bad things happen.

My sympathies to her family.

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